Inconsistent Doppelganger
by VaVesi
Summary: Have you ever wondered if there are alternative worlds out there? Where there could be a 'you' that isn't, exactly, you? Through the course of his life, Naruto gradually begins to think just that. Not that he ever expects to come in contact with another him. Which turns out to be true... he meets a SHE. And since they keep meeting, they decide to find out exactly how they differ.
1. Prologue: Naruto

_**Inconsistent Doppelganger**_

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 **Synopsis:** Have you ever wondered if there are other worlds, or timelines, out there? Where there could be a 'you' that isn't exactly _you?_ Many would probably think it's a ludicrous idea… or at the very least believe there to be no point in actually spending much time considering it. After all, it's not like one could actually go to an alternative universe if there was one… or meet a different version of themselves.

Through the Course of his life, Naruto gradually begins to think that maybe there really are alternative universes out there. At first, even he thinks it's a ludicrous idea… but the possibility continues to nag at him as he is presented with more _evidence_ in the form of dreams. But like most sane people, even when he comes to the realization that there definitely are other worlds out there, he resigns himself to the fact that he'll never actually meet a counterpart to himself.

Until he does.

 **A/N:** Hello readers~

First off I do want to let everyone know that I don't have a Beta (because I've been away from the site for so long (long enough just to make a new account) and I've never been very good at trying to find one), but I usually manage to catch any jarring mistakes. If you do find anything I missed, let me know and I'll go back and fix them whenever I have the chance.

This Fic is sort of a Mash between an AU Naruto fanfiction, and a Canon one. On one hand we have the Naruto we all know from the manga/anime (I intend to use at least some of the filler content from the anime for some characters, so I guess that makes the 'canon' part sort of AU in a sense), and on the other we have a sort of Parallel world, which is the real AU portion. However there won't be any moving of characters between the two universes... more a telling (or dream) of events that happened in one or the other. I have a few 'stories' already to put in, but I'd very much like to know what the readers want to find out about! so please do let me know. The more you guys want to know, the more content this fic will get!

I'll also be posting a companion AU Naruto fic, _**Extraneous**_ , which will be coming after (or simultaneously to) the third chapter of this one, as the first three chapters sort of set up for it.

 **Disclaimer:** Naruto does not belong to me, but to Kishimoto. Nor do I own the image used for the cover... I wasn't able to find the creator, but if they see it and don't want me to use it I will gladly take it off. All I can claim is my own plot.

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 _Prologue I:_ _ **Naruto**_

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The first time Naruto had considered the possibility of there being separate 'worlds' out there with alternative time lines he scoffed at the idea, because Madara… or rather Obito playing the role of Madara, had been the cause of it all. Yet the idea still sort of lingered, because it was strange that so many of his friends had completely different personalities inside the genjutsu. And there was also the fact that there had been another him there… with a different name. Still trying to figure out why the genjutsu world had been so weird that way made the blonde's head hurt. So even with the lingering feeling that maybe it wasn't exactly a genjutsu (and actually somehow did involve an alternate world were things weren't quite the same), Naruto more or less forgot all about it soon enough. After all he'd had more important concerns at the time.

Namely stopping Madara's plans (since he didn't know it was actually Obito yet) and finding a way to bring Sasuke home…Or die trying.

When the possibility of such a thing came up again, he actually dismissed the idea the moment he had it. Naruto more thought it was all a delusional dream brought on by the exhaustion and blood-loss that was a result of his and Sasuke's final, pivotal battle. After all they'd blown off an arm each with their last chidori vs. rasengan clash. He'd been pretty sure they'd ended up killing each other; After all it was like moments of his life were flashing before his eyes. Although the flashbacks hadn't quite been right, admittedly. In many he was more of a bystander, standing off to the side rather than actually seeing things from his perspective when they'd actually happened. That wasn't the super weird part about it though. In some of these (specifically the ones after he'd lost consciousness again following the revelation that he and Sasuke were actually _alive_ ) the younger him that he was watching was for some reason a _she_. Still giving the state he was in, it was only natural to think it had been strange delusions. So the idea was once again forgotten quickly. Besides, after being healed up enough to move, Naruto's first priority had been to end that dumb genjutsu with Sasuke.

After that he'd been way too busy dealing with the various repercussions of the war to think of the idea again until things started to calm down.

The next time the possibility came to mind was the first time he seriously considered it for any length of time. Somehow or another they'd gotten onto a conversation about the various genjutsu dreams that those caught up in the Mugen Tsukuyomi had had. It was TenTen's in particular that did it… and then the following strange tale that it had reminded Ino of. After all the personalities that TenTen had described of everyone in her dream matched almost perfectly with the genjutsu Naruto and Sakura had been flung into by Madara that had momentarily made the idea cross his mind the first time.

Most of the others had dismissed TenTen's 'dream' as being a result of the strange day with Sakura where she'd lost her memory and had everyone acting rather peculiar to try and jog it. But even if that was the case, _that_ Sakura had never said the name Menma in association with Naruto; So there was no way TenTen could have known the name that fit into a fake world where Naruto had met people like the ones she described. That was only one of the points that made him consider the idea though. Secondly TenTen said that at the beginning of her dream she'd remembered all about the war and her actual life and realized she was in a genjutsu. No one else he knew made the same claim. Finally there was the fact that Sakura had no idea what everyone was talking about, and Ino had said something about clearly seeing the Sakura of that day disappear in a strange light. The idea would come to mind again from time to time after that… but it often left Naruto with a headache whenever he tried to really think about it.

He'd been busy with all that damned studying to prepare him for being Hokage in the future anyway. So even though the idea was now truly there, he didn't spend much time on it.

The first time he actually sat down and really attempted to dissect the idea was after a series of dreams that reminded him of the weird _flashbacks_ that he'd seen when he was lying next to Sasuke, lacking the better portion of his right arm. The first dream had been about Pain's attack on Konoha… only things didn't look quite _right_ , and it wasn't just the fact that Pain was fighting what almost looked like Naruto's Orioke no jutsu form (her hair was in choppy, off centered ponytail rather than pigtails). There was also Sakura's hair for one, which was long… longer than it had been when they'd first been made a genin team. Then there was the fact that Sakura didn't call him (well, her) Naru _to_ , but Naru _ko_ ; which certainly made it clear that it wasn't a henge'd Naruto fighting but an actual female version of himself. The sequence of the battle wasn't the same either… although it did eventually come to a point where Naruko was pinned down by the black rods. Just like what actually happened, Hinata tried to save Naruko… but the scene had lacked the love confession.

Not that that had stopped Naruko from going Kyuubi on the Yahiko-Pain. Although the conversation with the Yondiame in the seal was a bit different, and he looked a bit older, it seemed he was still the father of this female version of Naruto. But the most striking difference had been Nagato… or rather, it seemed, Na _nako_. Naruto had woken up at that point, but he couldn't get the dream out of his head. Why would he be dreaming about his past as if he were a woman? And why so many other differences? He honestly didn't connect the dream to the thought of there being other wolds at first though… until they kept happening. All of them were memories of things that had happened, but changed to fit the dream world where he was Naruko instead of Naruto. They revealed things here and there that made some of those little differences make sense. Examining the dreams and these changes just made him feel like it was all too complex to be a simple dream world born only from his subconscious. How could his subconscious come up with all of it? It was just weird.

After that Naruto found himself entertaining the idea that somehow he was seeing the life of a female counterpart to himself in another world, whenever he had these dreams.

When the dreams lulled he'd start convincing himself he was being ridiculous… but then they would come back and he'd find himself thinking seriously about the idea all over again. They were never gone for more than a couple months, with the exception of Hinata's first pregnancy with Boruto, when Naruto was rather distracted with the fact he was going to be a parent soon. After the birth of his son though, the dreams slowly started to come back, painting more of a strange parallel to his life. At this point though, the dream world had 'caught up' more or less to his life, and he was dreaming of things that had happened no more than a month prior. Naruko had a first born child… a son who looked strikingly like his own, except he had brown hair rather than blonde. Her husband was _Neji_ who apparently didn't have the curse seal, and clearly somehow didn't die during the war, although Naruto knew he'd seen the man struck down in one of the earlier dreams. Still, he wasn't completely convinced that there really were alternative worlds out there, even though he couldn't outright dismiss the possibility anymore.

And then he had the first dream that was _ahead_ of his own life.

Hinata was pregnant for the second time, the due date very close at hand. They had no idea what the baby was going to be this time around, not that they really cared. They just wanted a healthy child. Still, when he first had the dream, Naruto had thought that maybe subconsciously he was hoping for a girl. In the dream Naruko was in labor… much to Naruto's distress, as he didn't really like the idea of seeing a female version of himself like that. Thankfully he didn't have to see much of it as it seemed the dream had started only moments before the actual birth. It wasn't long before he found out the baby was a girl, with a small tuft of blonde hair. Just before he'd woken up, Naruto had seen the date, but he hadn't thought much about it at the time. Not until Hinata had gone into labor in the wee morning hours on that very same date and he found himself holding a black haired baby girl in his arms before the day was out. It was at that point that he _knew_ there were alternative worlds out there. Now the ridiculous of it was more focused on why the hell would he be dreaming about one of these other worlds?

Not long after that he'd decided to talk to Kurama about it; Having _finally_ realized that the Kyuubi had never once made mention of knowing about these dreams. He knew that Kurama, since they'd become friends, actually saw bits and pieces of what he dreamed. Kurama, to his surprise, immediately confirmed that there were indeed other worlds out there, and he was most definitely dreaming about one. He even had an answer as to why. According to the Fox, Naruto had these dreams of another world as a result of being a reincarnation of Ashura, as Hagoromo and Hamura were evidently able to forge connections with alternate version of themselves from many different worlds at some point after sealing Kaguya. Kurama had gone on to say that if Naruto had never encountered Hagoromo and inherited some of the Sage's chakra, the dreams likely would have never focused in on one specific world, and probably would have stopped altogether eventually.

Apparently, since the first time Naruto had dreamed of Naruko's world was not that long after receiving Hagoromo's power, a sort of half-baked connection had been formed right then. At least, that's what Kurama figured was the reason Naruto kept dreaming about Naruko's world. When asked how the hell he knew all this, the Kyuubi had simply said he'd remembered dreaming about many different version of himself when he was still part of the Sage with his brothers, and after asking the old man had explained it to him just like that. Naruto had demanded to know why Kurama had never told him. The fox had simply said he didn't know Naruto had such a connection with another world until the man had dreamed of Naruko giving birth to her second child… at which time Kurama had had a dream of the other Kurama while Naruko was in labor.

After that Naruto found himself wondering if he could somehow come into contact with Naruko, the way Kurama described the Rikudo Sennin doing with his own alternative personas. Unfortunately Kurama had no insight on how Naruto could go about trying, so over the next few years Naruto eventually gave up on the idea, figuring he should be more focused on his upcoming inauguration as Hokage. Along with the responsibilities he would have shoulder following.

The dreams grew more vivid the closer it came to his inauguration though, right up to the day of. Although, it wasn't a dream like any of the others that had greeted him after he'd been knocked unconscious by his darling Himawari.

It was his own Mindscape, standing in front of a none too pleased, and barely conscious Kurama. As he dazedly took in this fact, and pondered at how Himawari had managed the feat, Kurama had let out a sort of mix between a displeased growl and a disoriented groan. Then He'd felt another set of eyes on him, prompting him to look to his left.

And there she was.

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 _ **Word Count:**_ _2075_


	2. Prologue: Naruko

**A/N:** I know its only been like 2 1/2 days since I posted the story, and normally I wouldn't want to update so quickly... but considering the first two chapters are kind of like two halves of a one prologue (a long one i guess), I felt the need to post this one up early. So here is the second 'Prologue', and next up we'll have the first true chapter (where the story will finally get into what it's actually all about!). The next chapters content (when it comes to the life stories our two protagonists share with each other) has already been decided. But starting the chapter after that I'd love to start putting in content that you all ask for. So I hope to start hearing some requests if you have any~

Any responses to reviews, beyond the normal 'thanks for the reviews!', will be found at the end of the next chapter posted after the reviews were submitted.

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 _Prologue II:_ _ **Naruko**_

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It's easier to believe the unbelievable and fantastic when you're young, and still have a child's run away imagination.

That was the case for Naruko, on the idea that there could be other worlds out there where things were different. Of course she didn't really think about it like that at first. No, she'd just had dreams since she could remember about a blonde boy who was somehow very much like her, but not. He had the same glares leveled at him from the adults in the village, didn't have any friends to play with just like her, and started off life with no one actually caring… exactly like her. Although, he seemed to be able to put on a smile much easier than she could, and didn't cry nearly as much as she did. She was jealous of that, so had worked doubly hard on smiling as much as possible, and only crying when she was sure no one was there to see her do it.

She never once thought the boy was a figment of her imagination… no, she _knew_ he was somehow real.

The first time she had a dream about him that ended up helping her out of a real sticky situation, her jealousy started to change into admiration. Her sixth birthday was right around the corner. She'd be entering the Academy soon, so she was no longer living in the orphanage. She knew, of course, that it wasn't because she was Academy age that the staff there had told her she couldn't live there anymore. No, it was because they just didn't like her. A few days before her birthday she dreamt about the boy… and it wasn't at all a pleasant dream. It scared her terribly… the way the boy was set upon by unhappy villagers in the area. He'd eventually manage to get free from what was becoming a mob, and ran… right into one of those Shinobi dressed in black and grey, wearing a mask over his face. His presence stopped the hostilities of the mob, and that was it.

So when she was walking on the very same street she'd seen the boy on, on her own birthday, and she'd looked over to see a group of seven adults glaring her darkly, she'd cast her gaze about desperately for help, fearing the same thing was going to happen to her. She'd picked up her pace, as she spotted more adults looking at her the same way. They'd converged towards her, but she'd desperately dived through their legs to get away. And then there was the masked man, telling her he would take her home. She knew that things could have been a lot worse than they had… it wasn't the first time some adults had converged on her with the clear intent to cause her harm. But just the uneasy feeling brought on by how similar the sight had been to the dream had spurred her to act more quickly than she would have otherwise, saving her from a beating on that particular birthday.

At that point she didn't just know the boy was real because of a feeling. She was completely convinced there could be no way he _wasn't_ real.

She found after that she mostly dreamt about the boy when things were getting hard or, sometimes, just before something really bad happened. The strength he showed, and the way he pushed through his own hurt and hate towards the village with a smile was nothing short of inspiring. It wasn't long before the boy, who she eventually found out was named Naru _to_ rather than Naru _ko_ , became her first ever role model. Oh she could tell that the hate of others towards him bothered Naruto, but he never seemed to be consumed in hate of his own. She'd had days when she felt it was all just utterly unbearable, but thinking about the boy who never seemed to want to give up, helped her scrape through it.

Like many younger children tend to do when they have a role model, Naruko put in great effort to emulate Naruto. As her smiles through adversity become more second nature, and she was able to keep her spirits up most of the time (through sheer determination at first), the little blonde girl found she dreamt about the other blonde less and less. Still, whenever she felt like just giving up, she would have another dream about the boy who never would. So for her, it was like Naruto was always there when she needed him most, even though he wasn't physically around. She knew others would probably think it childish, but she couldn't help but think of Naruto almost like he was her older brother. After all, being there when she needed a boost to keep her going through a difficult situation was what she figured a good sibling would do. She found herself subconsciously referring to him as Naru-Nii, and started thinking _"What would Naru-nii do in this situation?"_ Whenever she found herself facing a problem she wasn't sure how to resolve.

Eventually it became second nature, and she didn't even have to think the words before she could picture the reaction he'd have.

When she and her closest friend (Sakura) were tossed into some weird genjutsu, alternative reality thing, Naruko was quick to believe this was evidence that alternative worlds actually existed. If it wasn't for the Fourth Shinobi War, Naruko probably would have spent her free time pondering about other worlds, and whether she could make contact somehow. As it was she had her hands full with the revelations leading up to (and during) the war, all the training she had to undergo to control the Kyuubi's chakara… And a bit of grief over fallen comrades. Neji, who she'd sort of been forming a crush on, had nearly died… and TenTen had been ripped to shreds during the final, harrowing battle (Sometime between when Edo Tensei Madara had appeared and Obito became the Juubi's jinchuriki). She'd tried to save Gai as well, but apparently she was moments too late… when the Mugen Tsukiyomi was cast the amount of time he was trapped in the genjutsu was enough for him to die. If only she and Sasuke hadn't fought first, and released the Genjutsu right away, the man would still be alive. Or even if she'd just managed to somehow end the fight sooner! But… to have done that she probably would have had to kill Sasuke…

So following the war Naruko was riddled with guilt over all those she failed to save.

Once again dreams of Naruto and his world helped her cope some… but more than that she had thrown herself into rebuilding the shinobi world with a vengeance. She wasn't reminded of the idea of there being other worlds until nearly two years later, when Ino was talking about her Tsukuyomi dream, and how it reminded her of a strange day with Sakura. Sakura though had had no idea what Ino was talking about… although both Team 7 girls agreed in private that it reminded them of their weird alternate reality experience two years prior. So that was when Naruko, when she had the time, started to seriously consider the implications of there being other worlds; As well as how she might be able to make contact with Naruto. Honestly though, she didn't have that much free time to spare on it, what with the studies she was doing in preparation for being Hokage… and the important missions she was often sent on. Not to mention trying to figure out how she might let Neji know how she felt (she had no idea he'd actually already noticed her interest in him).

Before she could really figure any of that out, Toneri had attacked.

While the kidnapping of Hanabi (and subsequently Hinata) had led to a stressful mission, followed by a difficult fight with Toneri… It had also led to _Neji_ asking her on a date when all was said and done. Shocked at the sudden invitation she had turned him down initially… only to agree with a feeling of mortification when he'd pointed out matter of factly that she'd only said no because he'd caught her off guard (and that she really did want to go on a date with him). But Naruko harbored doubt that Neji actually returned her feelings, even after he'd made it clear she was his girlfriend. She found herself thinking that he was only with her because he didn't want to hurt her feelings, since she was one of the world's saviours… or something like that. In the end, it was another dream about Naruto's world that had snapped her out of the negativity of her own thoughts; by making her absolutely terrified she'd lost Neji. It was like some sort of hand of fate (or something like that) had planned exactly when she should have a dream about the war in Naruto's world, where Neji died. She'd trained herself to exhaustion to be found by Neji sometime later, while she was in the midst of the nightmare. The resulting breakdown she'd had (in his arms) after she'd woken up had led to a conversation that left her no doubt his feelings were genuine.

Really, Naru-nii (and his world) always managed to give her whatever little push she required to get to where she was _needed_ to be.

But after that she found she almost never dreamt of the male counterpart to herself… and when she did it was brief little snippets, barely enough to tell her that he'd married Hinata (at which she felt a pang of sadness, as her worlds Hinata had died in childbirth not long before she found this out). Following her son's birth, she saw a dream about him having a son of his own (although his son was blond), and then while she was nearing the end of her pregnancy with her daughter she had another dream of Naruto with a little baby girl (a black haired girl rather than blond, like hers turned out to be.) But other than that she didn't know much about how his life was going anymore. She'd talked to Kurama about it when he'd brought up a strange dream about another Kurama who was apparently amused at his Jinchuriki's antics while _his_ wife was in labour (Naruko was sure immediately that it had to be Naruto). But honestly, at this point, she'd given up on the idea of meeting Naruto (as much as she really wanted to show him how grateful she was). If it was ever going to happen it should have happened when she was dreaming about him every single week. Now the dreams were growing further and further apart… although they were just as vivid (if not more so) as they had been to start with; they were just too short to learn anything!

Her inauguration was coming soon though, so she decided to focus on that.

The week leading up to her inauguration as Hokage had been mildly surprising though. For the first time in years she had a dream about Naruto's life every single night. Some of them left her rather disoriented and even a bit fearful when she woke (much to her husband's concern). She shrugged it off however, claiming she was simply on edge do to a mixture of excitement and nerves. When the day finally came she thought she was totally ready for anything, except, it would seem, breaking up an argument between her two darling children. Where both of them woke the Byakugan.

And managed to strike her.

 _Right in the Tenketsu._

The next thing she knew, she was inside her mindscape, Kurama laughing hysterically at her (although he seemed to be a bit affected by the blows too). Although she was a bit dazed, she somehow managed to convince the Kitsune to stop laughing at her (although she knew he would never let her live the moment down). And then she'd heard the strangest mix of a growl and a groan. Which hadn't come from Kurama. Or at least not _her_ Kurama. She found her gaze drawn to her right in search of the source of the sound.

And there he was.

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 _ **Word Count:**_ _2051_

 ** _To the Reviewers:  
_** _(Anonymous) Guest:_ I'm glad to hear you like the idea~ I was considering on including Sasuke (and his parallel) in this fic somehow myself... but I decided I wanted to focus more on how Naruto and Naruko relate to each other, and how they differ. Still I'd be interested in seeing something like this for Sasuke ;] _  
_

 ** _Thanks for the reviews~~!_**


	3. I - Contact

**A/N:** Hello readers~

First off I'd like to let you all know the reason why this has taken so long to be posted. Simply put it's because I got a very demanding (but temporary) job at a mine (I stay in camp when at work) and simply didn't have time, energy, or even the means to do anything related to fanfiction. I've still got a guaranteed 3 weeks left (in fact I fly up there tomorrow), but I'm much more used to the work now so there is a chance I could get a chapter or two up while I'm there next. If not the next update won't come until the last week of august at the earliest.

Secondly, the two part prologue to the companion story, **_Extraneous_** will be posted before another chapter to this one. This story also will be updated less frequently than **_Ex_** , and you may only get a chapter for it once every 1-2 months. There is no set ending point for this fic though, and chapters will continue to be added until I run out of ideas, readers stop requesting things, or both. If there are a lot of reader request though, you can expect more frequent chapters.

Hope you all enjoy this chapter~

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 _Chapter I:_ ** _Contact_**

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Over the years following the war, Naruto's mindscape had changed. Back when he'd first found himself there, it had been almost like a sewer, with pipes lining the dank walls, and ankle deep water that he had to traverse through. At some point after meeting his mother (or rather, her chakra) the walls and pipes had faded away. Things had continued to change gradually after that, but for whatever reason he hadn't thought much of it. Not until all the walls were gone, there appeared to be a pleasant blue sky… and an island in the middle of it all. Usually when he'd spoken Kurama they both stood upon the water which shallow depths extended to the horizon, and often the 'sky' was simply black.

It wasn't until he'd found himself there rather unexpectedly a couple years back that he really realized how much had changed. Kurama hadn't called him, and he hadn't made an effort to contact the fox either. But there he was on the shallow, endless lake, bits of land with buildings or other locations that were important to him occasionally fading into (or out of) existence. Soon after he'd come across Kurama sleeping on a large island. When he was eventually able to ask the kyuubi about it, he was told that the change was a reflection of the changes in himself (specifically those brought on by the changes in how those around him viewed the jinchuriki), as well as the fact that Kurama was no longer there against his (and Naruto's) will; and the island he'd been sleeping on was his own doing because he'd gotten tired of always being on the water.

But the last time someone had been in his mindscape with him and the demon fox it was still the confining sewer.

Naruto couldn't believe his eyes at first. He thought maybe this was just some sort of weird dream brought on by the blow he'd received from Himawari, but as he stood there, dumbfounded, and no less dazed then when he first found himself in his mindscape, the woman before him stared right back with a similar expression. Then he saw incredulity in her blue eyes, before she blinked once, twice, and looked in front of her as if she was checking something. He found his gaze followed her own…

And there was a bloody second Kurama.

What in the world?

"Naruto?"

The melodic female voice held a note of unsureness and disbelief… but there also seemed to be a bit of hope in the way she said the name. With a frown showing his own confusion, the newly anointed Nanadaime Hokage turned his gaze back to the shorter blonde figure. She knew his name… so either this was indeed a weird dream, or she'd had dreams of _his_ world. Unsure of which was more likely, he found himself examining her. Her blond hair was pulled back in a loose braid, and she wore an orange jacket much like the one he wore; only hers was cinched at the waist by a wide black belt. Her pants though were exactly identical to his, and she wore matching black shinobi sandals. If it wasn't for the belt at her waist they'd be wearing the identical outfit. Although he'd seen it before in his dreams, having her actually standing before him in a clone of his own garb was… almost eerie.

"Ne…. you there?" She asked with a frown, her brows knitting together as she in turn took in his appearance. He realized he must have been staring at her for a while, without responding to her questioning greeting.

He let out a nervous sort of laugh, raising his bandaged head to rub the back of his head. "Hi, Naruko." He greeted, at last, before he looked over his shoulder to see if his Kurama was still there. He was indeed, his gaze fixed on Naruko's Kurama, who was returning the thoughtful stare.

"I knew it! You totally know me, ttebayo!" the loud exclamation from Naruko came a moment later, before he felt her grab onto his bandage free arm and tug insistently. Startled, Naruto turned his attention back to the woman who was now practically in his face. "Ne, ne… You Hokage yet?" She asked him brightly, tugging once more on his arm before letting go. He wasn't sure at first why she had released him, until he realized he had been frowning intensely. The frown wasn't so much because of her invasion of his personal space as it was just not knowing how to handle whatever it was that was going on. "No?" She asked him, and it seemed she thought his frown meant he wasn't Hokage yet.

"Uh…" He sort of sputtered, as if he'd forgotten how to speak. Taking a steadying breath, and a half step back so he could better look at her, he tried again. "Well, Kind of no, kind of yes?" He could not be blamed for that turning into a question. Really. He didn't know if he was the Nanadiame Hokage right at this moment or not. From what he did know about Tenketsu and all that, he surmised he'd be out of it for some time after the blow he'd taken. But he had no way of knowing how long, or how the village would deal with it. He sort of doubted the ceremony would be put off… someone would probably henge as him so everything could go as scheduled; if it was determined he wasn't going to wake up in a reasonable amount of time. Probably.

Naruko looked rather perplexed at the statement-turned-question at first… and then it changed into a look of understanding underlined in disbelief. "Uh… is today supposed to be your inauguration?" she asked him, seemingly having just a hard of a time putting things into proper words as he had moments before. She was looking at him intently, her hands now behind her, though he could make out slight movement in her arms that told him she was likely fiddling with her bandaged fingers. It was a nervous habit he'd noticed she'd picked up sometime after getting the organic prosthetic.

The question was certainly not what he had expected. But then… maybe in this instance she was ahead of him? It wouldn't be the first time. Yeah… probably she was ahead of him, given that she'd started off by asking if he was Hokage yet. That probably meant she was, right? "Yeah, todays the day," he confirmed to her what it seemed she'd already guessed. "Can't say if it's happened yet or not," He went on to add, rubbing the back of his head again, this time in embarrassment at the admission. "Pretty sure I'm going to miss the moment altogether."

He was startled by the belt of laughter that rang out the moment his last words left his mouth. The shock was almost enough to set him off balance, although he managed to avoid that particular embarrassment. Righting himself after staggering, the taller blond looked to the source of the laughter… the other Kurama. Naruko was leveling a glare at her fox biju, which only seemed to cause him to laugh harder. Naruto was glad his Kurama didn't seem inclined to join in… but it seemed he had figured something out, as his lips twitched and his eyes showed some form of mirth. What the hell?

"Kurama!" Naruko hissed, "Shut the hell up. I'm going to have a bad enough headache whenever I wake up as it is." The fox stopped bellowing in laughter, but he continued to snicker. His frame was almost shaking with his apparent amusement, his half lidded eyes lazily moving between his jinchuriki and Naruto.

 **"You can't say it isn't funny both of you got knocked out by your brats."**

Was the fox's reply, his voice doing absolutely nothing to hide how amused he was. Naruko huffed at her tenant in aggravation. "We don't even know if that's what happened!" She returned, and Naruto was actually surprised she hadn't stomped her foot… the frustration in her voice reminded him of a few childish moments with her that he had witnessed where she'd done just that when she didn't get her way. There was a low rumble of amusement following her words.

 **"He got knocked out by his she-brat."**

This came from behind Naruto, and he leveled a glare on the culprit. His Kurama had the same amused gaze, and Naruto realized it had been him who had made the rumbling, brief laugh that had preceded the words. He hadn't expected Kurama to voice up like that. "Kura-" He began to growl out his biju-friend's name in aggravation before he was caught off by another, brief bark of laughter.

 **"Seems mine is better. It took both her brats to knock her out."**

This was the other Kurama again, though his gaze was now on his counter-part rather than either jinchuriki. The words sounded immensely smug. Naruto's Kurama snorted at the response.

 **"How is that any better? It just means mine spawned a stronger she-brat."**

Was the immediate response, a wide smirk splitting the fox's furry muzzle.

Okay… Naruto had heard enough. "Kuruma shut the hell up… and stop calling Himawari a she-brat, ttebayo!" He shouted in his annoyance. Unfortunately his mini outburst at his friend only caused the other Kurama to snicker again.

"Oh can it, Kurama! It isn't funny at all!" Naruko pipped up immediately after, waving an angry finger in front of her fox biju's nose "I'm missing my own inauguration, ttebayo! I already told you this is no time to be laughing."

Wait… she was missing her inauguration as well? Naruto blinked, regarding her more carefully now. Well… she didn't have the Hokage Haori, yet was dressed in what Naruto believed to be her usual shinobi garb. If she was already Hokage it would stand to reason that her showing up in a weird mash of their mindscapes would mean that she would be wearing the Haori, wouldn't it? Unless it hadn't been ready and she didn't want to wear a patch job like Kakashi had had to do. But there was also the comment of her having a headache when she finally woke, and what her Kurama had said about her two kids knocking her out. "So… uh… Today is your Inauguration to?" He asked a bit hesitantly. He was trying really hard not to continue frowning, but all of this was so confusing it was pretty much an impossible feat to keep his lips from tugging downwards and his brows from knitting together.

Naruko stopped glaring daggers at her kyuubi, turning her gaze back to him and just staring for a dumbfound moment. Then her cheeks flushed and she looked away. "Uh… yeah. I'm probably… well, definitely missing it." She responded, clearly heavily embarrassed by this fact. Her hands once more disappeared behind her back, and he immediately knew she was fiddling with her fingers again.

Both Kyuubi snickered.

Naruto shot his Kyuubi, and then the other one an intense glare, his expression reading shut-the-hell-up-before-we-decide-to-seal-your-asses. One Kurama shut up immediately. The other snickered again, before deciding to lower himself for a lie down, closing his eyes as if he was intent on having a nap. Man, Naruko's Kurama was _annoying_.

"Soo….What exactly happened, ttebayo?" Naruko spoke up after muffling what probably would have been giggling at the reaction of the two kitsune. Naruto's azure gaze snapped back to her, the frown-that-couldn't-be-shaken once more dominating his face. His female counterpart wore an expression of innocent curiousity, although he caught a hint of relief in her own azure eyes. Relief that she wasn't the only one knocked out and missing her all-important inauguration as Hokage, he supposed.

He felt his cheeks heating from embarrassment at just the knowledge he'd been gotten the best of by his own daughter… let alone sharing it. Hopefully his cheeks hadn't reddened enough for Naruko to notice. "Why should I tell you?" He found himself asking, grimacing at the fact that his voice was just slightly higher than normal… there was no way she hadn't noticed his embarrassment now. "Something like it happened to you, ttebayo." He added in hopes that she would decide she didn't need to hear the story after all because she could guess at what happened based on what happened to her. The snort that escaped her told him that would not be the case, unfortunately. "And why should share if you don't, ttebayo!" He shot at her, inwardly wincing at the hint of desperation in the words.

"I never said I wasn't going to share." Was the female's easy response, coupled with a slight shrug. At first he thought she must not be embarrassed by whatever had happened to her at all… until he noted the slight colouring of her own cheeks that is. "I will if you do."

Ah… well he was actually curious about what had happened with her. He didn't really know much about her two kids if he was to be honest. Maybe he could get her to talk first though? Regarding her thoughtfully, his lips parted to try and goad her into doing just that.

"I asked you first." Naruko called out before he could make a sound. His lips snapped back shut and he found himself regarding her in a more calculated fashion. She had known what he was going to say (maybe not the exact words) before he got around to saying it and shot him down in advance. It was probably because they were technically the same person (yet clearly not because they weren't even the same gender), and she was able to work out just what he was thinking by putting herself in his shoes… maybe? "C'mon Naruto, it's not like I'm going to spread it around to embarrass you when we're like in the same boat ya know."

Naruto let out a soft sigh of resignation at this. She did have a point, and if he wanted to hear her say what had happened on her end, he was going to have to give her the same. Not that there was really all that much he could tell her.

"Well… There isn't much too it really," he said in a last ditch effort to see if she would let him off the hook but still share her story (yeah right). He was unsurprised by the shrug and simple 'so?' that she responded with.

He might as well just get it over with then

* * *

 _Waking up that… morning, had hurt. Which was only logical considering what roused him had been Boruto jumping on him. Breakfast has sort of been a blur to be honest, as he'd still been a bit groggy. But he certainly remembered the conversation about the Haori and being told he would have to bring the kids to the inauguration so Hinato could go pick it up (he fervently hoped it would be finished.)_

 _Naruto hadn't thought much about having to bring the kids along with him when he went. In fact he didn't hurry through his meal either, sort of finding it hard to eat after Hinata left and the nerves really hit him. Still he finished eating, and even gathered up all the dishes and washed them as Boruto and Himawari got changed into formal black._

 _Today was the day he finally became what he always said he would. Konoha's hokage. He couldn't help but grin as he moved into the entrance hall and sat to put on his sandals. Grabbing the footwear he called over his shoulder to his two little uzumaki's, figuring they would come right out to put their shoes on as well._

 _Only they didn't._

 _In fact he heard their voices raising in what was clearly a fight._

 _Really? Today of all days?_

 _Naruto tried calling them again. They still did not appear._

 _With a sigh the soon to be Nanadaime got to his feet and headed back towards the living room, telling his kids they needed to stop fighting and get their shoes on._

 _The scene he walked in on was not what he was expecting. Not that he saw very much of it. A terrified looking Boruto, and a tearful Himawari whos eyes were white._

 _He hardly had time to realize it was the byakugan, let alone move out of the way of her strike._

 _Her terrifyingly heavy strike for her age._

 _Closing several tenketsu._

 _He was out cold before he even hit the ground._

* * *

Naruto couldn't help but grimace as he admitted to his female counterpart how he couldn't even remember the impact of the floor. He glared over at her Kurama immediately afterwards, as the expected snickering resumed. Surprisingly though, there was not laughter or any sign of amusement from Naruko.

She did hum softly, seemingly in thought over what he had just said, before she gave a slight nod. "Himawari-chan hasn't ever shown the Byakugan before now has she?" She asked him softly, and Naruto simply shook his head. "That makes sense. I mean, from what Neji said it's almost unheard of see it at this age… In fact he said he'd be impressed if either of our kids showed the byakugan before their last couple years in the academy."

Naruto frowned deeply at this, as he didn't know as much as Naruko seemed to about what age was normal for activating the baykugan. He had learned that many Hyuuga members actually didn't activate the Byakugan at all… at least not to an extent useful to being a shinobi. After he woke up he was going to have to have a chat with Hinata, and his father-in-law about this. Which was going to be hell in its own way… having to tell Hiashi that Himawari had knocked him out? Great. Although he was sure the Hyuuga would be exuberant… he fawned so over his grandkids.

"So," he began, wanting to pull the conversation away from his own embarrassing failure of an inauguration day. "What happened for you?"

Naruko grimaced, and the blonde man thought for a moment she would back out of telling him, which was not okay at all. But then she sighed, her shoulders slumping. "I did say I'd share if you did," she half mumbled. "Well, actually, my day was pretty similar to yours. But a deal is a deal."

* * *

 _Her breath was forcefully expelled from her lungs as her gut was compressed rather painfully by the_ ** _sudden_** _weight of two young children, obnoxiously calling "Kaaa-chan wake up!" (one of them ending with a 'tte ba sa). Tears gathered in the corner of her eyes as they cracked open to look at the two small bodies still perched on her torso._

 _"'mm upp" she slurred, placing one hand on each of their heads to muss up their hair, eliciting a 'hey' of protest from her son and a giggle from her daughter. "Ge'off" She said through a yawn, which drew out more giggling from the girl, and eye rolling from the boy before they slid off of her. Of course the little girl immediately started tugging at her arm._

 _"C'mon, Ka-chan. Breakfast." The girl chirped as she tugged. Naruko bit back a groan… goodness she loved her kids but sometimes they could be terribly annoying. Before they could pester her anymore she sat up, which convinced the blonde haired little girl to release her arm. With another huge yawn, Naruko rose from the couch and made her way out of her study, her two kids hurrying out in front of her to head to table._

 _"Neeji," she whined as she entered moved down the hall to stop at the kitchen, inwardly wanting to laugh at the still strange sight of Neji with an apron on, plating their breakfast. "Why'd you have to go and send the wake up squad in?"_

 _Neji almost scoffed at her, and she felt herself almost wilting at the look he cast at her that clearly read 'it's your own fault for sleeping on the day of your inauguration.' And damn, he actually did kind of have a point. But really, she had had so much that she needed to get done last night, and by the time she finally realized she absolutely had to sleep it was all she could do to drop her tired body onto the small couch before she pretty much passed out._

 _Which She was sure Neji also wasn't pleased with. When she first started crashing in there when she was too tired to head to their room, he would simply come and get her at some point during the night and carry her to their bed… but as it happened more frequently he gradually came to get her less… she really needed to try to stop doing it. But damn, when she needed to crash like that, the stairs were bloody daunting._

 _She was snapped out of these thoughts as Neji brushed passed her to set the food on the table. Looking after him for a moment the soon to be Hokage had to bite back a sigh before she moved to her seat. She wanted to grab her husband's arm and apologize, but he was already fussing over their daughter who had somehow managed to make a mess right off the bat. So instead she just started eating._

 _She'd make it up to him! Believe it._

 _"Thanks or Breakfast!" she chirped after swallowing her first mouthful. Neji hated when she talked with food in her mouth (something that had usually only occurred when she was excited or worked up for one reason or another)._

 _She almost immediately found herself frowning as Neji, now done cleaning little Honoka's face, didn't take a seat to eat breakfast himself. Looking at his spot at the table revealed there wasn't even any food there for him. "Aren't you eating?" she asked him, brow knitted in concern._

 _"I ate earlier," the man assured her as he walked over towards the kitchen to clean up the dishes from cooking breakfast. This wasn't exactly unusual… sure, it was more common for Neji to eat with the family rather than on his own, but whenever he'd gotten up extra early to train with Lee he ate when he got back, before preparing food for the rest of the family. But he hadn't told Naruko he was leaving. Since their son, Yuuto's birth, Naruko had insisted that Neji never go off so early without waking her up to at least let her know. It was exceedingly rare that Neji didn't do something he had promised or committed to doing. So she found it hard to believe that the reason for him having already eaten was that he'd gone out to train with Lee._

 _Still absently eating, Naruko kept glancing over towards her husband. What was up with him today? I mean, shouldn't he be happy for her or something? Instead he seemed…. Well actually, not that different from usual. Was she just being childish, wanting him to show some sort of excitement for her_

 _"Naruko, If you keep spacing out you'll bite your tongue." The man spoke up… a warning that startled her enough that she did in fact bite her tongue. She whined, sticking out her tongue and crossing her eyes as if this would allow her to look at it. She heard Neji sigh, and immediately pulled her tongue back in with a bit of a grimace. Neji had no need to tell her 'I told you so' because his sigh was more than enough to communicate that._

 _She decided that even though she wanted to know why Neji had already eaten, and why it seemed his mood was a little poor, it was probably best she actually concentrated on finishing off her breakfast. Especially after she glanced over at the clock and saw the time. She really didn't have time to dally…_

 _A glance around the table at her kids showed that she'd been spacing out quite a lot actually. Both had finished and Yuuto was diligently collecting their dishes to bring to the kitchen._

 _"Go wash up, Yuuto, Honoka," Neji instructed as he finished drying the dishes "And get changed."_

 _"Yes to-san!" the two replied, half running towards the hall._

 _Naruko blinked and looked after them, mouth open with her chopsticks hallway raised._

 _"Naruko," the brunette Hyuuga called, causing her to start a bit, her rice falling from her chopstick onto the table. She cursed, snatched up the morsel and popped it in her mouth before she started to wolf down her food. Neji sighed again, but seemed to have decided not to comment on the terrible table manners his wife was now displaying. "You're going to have to bring the kids along with you when you leave,"he informed her instead. Her chopsticks stopped on their way to her already full mouth, eyes moving back over to the man._

 _She swallowed. "Where will you be?"_

 _"Picking up your Haori," the man answered matter of factly. "It still wasn't done when I dropped by after training."_

 _Son of a bitch. He_ ** _had_** _gone training with Lee this morning! "Hey! You didn't come wake me up when you left." She found herself pouting rather than glaring like she might usually._

 _Another sigh. What was with all the sighing?_

 _"You'd only been asleep an hour." He replied simply. "You wouldn't have woken up even if I had tried._

 _Her mouth opened in an 'o' as she regarded him and absorbed the statement. It was true to be honest. "uh… right," she muttered, and went back to stuffing food in her face. Between swallowing and bringing more food to her mouth she realized what he'd said about the Haori at last._

 _She paused her movements just long enough to ask, "Uh… do you think the Haori will be done now?" It would really suck to wear a patch like Kakashi had to. Super embarrassing._

 _The man shrugged, coming out of the kitchen and moving over to the table. "It wouldn't surprise me either way," he told her. "But Most of the village won't be close enough to notice if there's a patch on it."_

 _She wanted to pout and say 'so!' but decided not to, since her mouth was once more full, this time with the last of her food. She swallowed and got to her feet so she could turn to face him … but found he merely reached around her and grabbed her dishes. "Hey, I can do that…" she said weakly in protest. The man didn't respond, simply bringing them into the kitchen and placing them in the sink to wash later._

 _"You still have to get changed," he told her, "And I should head out now. Don't take too long." With these words Neji was out of the kitchen and heading down the hall towards the entry. Naruko was not impressed._

 _Practically stomping her feet she moved quickly after her husband, snagging his arm before he lowered himself to put on his sandals. "Hey there mister. I'm not letting you go anywhere without good morning… or goodby or whatever…. I mean, without a kiss, Ttebayo!"_

 _Naruko was an affectionate person. She had no problem with public shows of affection (within reason.)… but Neji wanted none of that. So Naruko had to get what affection she could out of the man before they left the house._

 _She expected another sigh when he removed her hand from his arm, but found herself instead looking at a fond and slightly amused smile, before he leaned down and pecked her on the cheek. "Heey," she whined, having wanted more that that, and then swatted at his hand as it mussed up her hair. Her hands flew up to try and tame the lock locks, which was a hopeless thing to try with just her fingers._

 _Neji took that chance to pull his footwear on and open the door, turning back to her one last time before he left. "Don't be late to your own inauguration."_

 _"I'm not Kakashi!" she shot back at him with a playful glare. She saw the flash of his smile before the door closed. Damnit. All she got was a kiss on the cheek to get her through the day? That sucked._

 _Sighihg, the soon to be Hokage turned away from the door to head upstairs to their room so she could change into a fresh set of clothing. "Yuuto, Honoka, have you finished changing?" she called out to her two kids on the way upstairs. "Need help?"_

 _"I'm good, Ka-chan!" Yuuto called, poking his head out of his room._

 _"I can do it!" she heard Honoka's voice a moment later, slightly muffled and she assumed the girls head was inside her shirt. Naruko raised an eyebrow and moved towards the girl's room to peek in, but found that she'd managed to get her shirt on just fine by the time she looked in. She smile fondly before heading to the master-bedroom to change. "Yuuto, keep your sister entertained downstairs for a few minutes!" she called down the hall, and heard the affirmative from her son before she closed the door. The woman then quickly dug a change of clothes out of the dresser, tossing it onto the bed for the time being as she headed towards the bathroom, stripping of the clothing she'd fallen asleep in as she went._

 _She washed her face and brushed her teeth quickly before she deftly braided her long hair, seeing as that was the best way to make the unruly looks look tamed. Now satisfied that she no longer looked like she'd rolled out of bed not a half hour ago, she quickly moved back into the bedroom, stooping down to scoop up her discarded clothing as she move towards the bed. She dropped the dirty clothing in the hamper, and them proceeded to pull on her clean clothing with practiced shinobi speed._

 _And then she leisurely moved over to the floor length mirror in one corner, turning to either side to look at her form. Maybe she shouldn't wear orange today?_

 _Who the hell was she kidding. Of course she was going to wear orange._

 _Grinning broadly at her appearance, she decided it was perfect. Or at least, as perfect as she could be without the new Haori._

 _"Here comes the Orange Hokage, dattebayo!" she announced to no one at all, before turning on her heel and proceeding to her door with a spring in her step._

 _"Yuuto, Honoka, it's time to go!" she called to her two kids as she made her way down the stairs to the entry way._

 _"Oka-chan is calling for us, we don't have time for this!" she heard Yuuto say to his sister in a clearly fed up tone of voice._

 _Honoka's response was just as upset as her brothers. Naruko paused half way in sitting down to put her shinobi sandals on. "Cut it out you two! It's time go!" she called again._

 _The bickering continued. With No's, and Yes's shot back and forth. Naruko sighed and straightened her frame, ready to go get the pair. "C'mon, Ka-chan absolutely can't be late ttebayo!" She admonished just before she heard the tearing of fabric._

 _Uh oh, what was that?_

 _Now concerned she made her way down the hall, putting on a burst of speed when she heard the pained gasp from her son, who moments later stumbled out into the hall way. "That hurt Honoka!" he shouted, glaring back into the room at his little sister whom Naruko couldn't see._

 _Much to Naruko's disapproval the boy sunk into the taijutsu stance he'd just been shown only a few days ago by his father. "Hey! None of that!"she admonished immediately, stepping in between her son and daughter, her gaze fixed on the boy. Her brow knitted further when she saw the already forming bruises on arm and face. What the hell?_

 _She turned her disapproving gaze towards Honoka, and then froze._

 _She was staring at the Byakugan._

 _"Stay out of this, Ka-chan!" two young voices shouted, and she registered movement on either side of her moments before she felt the impact._

 ** _You've got to be fucking kidding me_**

 _And she was out cold._

* * *

Naruko exhaled in relief as she finished the tale. "so… now I'm here. And you're here." She said in way of closing, and tried to shrug off the tale and her embarrassment.

Thankfully Naruto didn't laugh, although her Kurama snickered again, and she could see that his Kurama had a sort of smug look on his face. Annoying Bijuu.

"Yeah.." Naruto responded after a moment. "I never thought I'd actually ever meet you though." He went on, cupping his chin thoughtfully.

"I didn't think I'd get to meet you either," the female jinchiruki replied with a shrug, "but does that really matter?"

"I suppose not," the male agreed with a shrug of his own, and gave her a slight smile before stretching out his bandaged hand towards her. "It's nice to finally meet you, Naruko."

She returned his smile and extended her own hand to take his… before she instead practically jumped on him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders in a hug. "I've wanted to meet you for forever, Ttebayo!"

Naruto stumbled a half step back before he managed to steady himself. A little hesitantly he wrapped an arm around the small of her back to return her hug. "Uh… for forever?" the statement stuck out to him because while it had been years for him, he could count them, and he certainly wouldn't say it had felt like 'forever'. They were all post war years, which had meant they were, for the most part, good years.

"Mmmhmm, I've been dreaming about your world since before the academy," she told him brightly, finally unwrapping her arms from around him and allowing her feet to touch the ground. The look of surprise on his face brought a frown to her own. "It hasn't been that long for you?"

"Not even close," Naruto confirmed. "The first time I saw you was after this happened!" He explained, holding up his bandaged arm.

The blond woman blinked, her blue eyes wide in surprise of her own. "Really? Wow… I guess you don't know as much about me as I do you then." she tilted her head to the side for a moment as she thought about that. "You know, you helped me a lot when I was little." She admitted to him, and her bright smile returned to her face. "I used to have little dreams about your world so after I started calling you Naru-nii."

It was once more Naruto's turn to be surprised. This female counterpart of himself had found him helpful when she was young? And thought of him like an older brother?

He looked down at her for a moment before a grin spread over his face. That was actually a nice notion. They were technical different versions of the same person (yet not do to the gender difference), but it felt good to think of her like family. "Naru-nii…. I like the sound of that."

Naruko's smile grew even brighter. "Good, because I'm totally not going to stop using it, ttebayo!" she announced happily.

 **"This turned sappy fast."**

The words were followed by a disgruntled sigh from Naruko's Kurama.

"Oh shut up, Kurama Two," Naruto shot back, leveling a glare at the offending fox.

 **"Why the hell am I number two?"** the fox rumbled unhappily, turning a glare at the other biju who was now grinning broadly.

"Well I'm the older brother, so that makes my Kurama number one," the blonde hokage replied simply, forcing his expression into a more serious one, although the corner of his mouth twitched with the want to keep grinning.

Kurama two glared at Naruto disapprovingly, but Naruko laughed, and One snickered. "He has a point Kurama _two._ "

This caused the bijuu to growl in protest before he promptly turned his back on other three and trailed off a good many yards to the island resting place in Naruko's half of the collided mindescape where he promptly flopped down. Of course the way one of his ears was cocked back towards him made it clear he asn't actually going to ignore the three, which made Naruko rolle her eyes.

"Don't mind him. He doesn't like being the source of amusement," Naruko chirped with a wide grin. Kurama was pouting. She didn't get to see that very much at all.

Naruto looked to be biting back laughter, a wide grin on his own face. "Neither does Kurama. But he doesn't _pout._ " He pointed out with a bit of a snicker. Both Kyuubi's growled in warning, giving the fact that Kurama two was still listening away.

"Ever tried to make him pout?" The female Hokage asked with a bit of a mischevious smile. "I mean, It wasn't until after the ware that I was able to get Kurama two to pout. Just gotta know which buttons to push ttebayo!" She announced looking rather smug.

"That so?" Naruto asked with a laugh and a grin of his own. "You'll have to share how you've done it with me some- Damn." The wide grin turned into a frown before he could finish asking Naruko to share her pouting Kurama moments with him. Kurama two was fading away, and so was Naruko. "Next time I guess."

Naruko pouted herself now. "Hey, don't go all transparent on me, Naru-nii!" She placed her hands on her hips and stomped her right foot as she said this, but that didn't stop what was happening.

"Sorry, Naruko. I can't really control this," the male responded with a sad smile. Then he gave her a broad grin and a thumbs up. "Next time, okay?"

The long haired blonde let out a sigh before she nodded. "Yup, next time."

If there was ever a next time.

* * *

 ** _Word Count:_** _6410_

* * *

 ** _To the Reviewers:_**

 _Kilroy7087:_ I'm glad your enjoying it so far, and hope that despite the wait for the first real chapter you continue enjoy it~

 _:_ Thank you for the information, but it isn't available for me. Also, I started this fanfiction with the desire to want to write what readers request, so my asking for input was not really because I was having trouble planning. Still, this sounds interesting and if it ever does become available for me I will certainly give it a read.

 ** _Thanks for your reviews~_**


	4. II - Fault?

A/N: Hello readers~

Sorry for my sudden stop in posting everyone. I wasn't expecting to busy so busy at home, and then to be working so much. Job was supposed to be 2 weeks on 2 weeks off, but there were a couple times I only had 4 days off. It was brutal to be honest, and rather killed my will to write or edit. But I'll be done with the job after xmas, and things have calmed down now.

I'd intended to be updating this story on the last Thursday of each month, but since I'm back in action it seemed silly to wait to post this next week. Depending on how things go I might post a chapter on the 14th of December, but if not, the next chapter will be on December 28th. I'll try and do a double release for a couple months sometime between now and may though.

For those of you following **_Ex_** , the next chapter will be this Tuesday (November 28th) and then every Tuesday after that. However, whenever I have more than three chapters ready to go I'll post up an extra chapter in a week, on the Thursday provided it isn't scheduled for an **_ID_** update.

Hope you all enjoy this chapter~

* * *

 _Chapter I:_ _Fault?_

* * *

The next time Naruko dreamed about Naruto and his world, she had, for a moment, believed the other Nanadaime was standing before her again. But as the details around him came more into focus, she realized how wrong that assumption was. Instead he was standing before the Hyuuga compound, frown on his face and bandaged hand wrapped around Himawari's, whose other hand was holding Hinata's.

Her heart ached at the sight of a _living_ Hinata. That was one more person who was alive in Naruto's world that wasn't in _hers._ She felt heart-breakingly inadequate as she watched the short haired Hinata smiling down at her son, who was holding her other hand, while they waited before the compound gates for her father and sister.

And then she was looking at the stern face of Hyuuga Hiashi. If this was real, she probably would have had to fight from flinching at the sight of the man. He wasn't _bad_ really, but his presence always sort of unnerved her.

But evidently this Hiashi wasn't quite like her's. With wide eyes she witnessed what she thought was impossible. A doting grandfather who seemed more than happy to make a fool of himself to get a smile out of his grandchildren.

It shouldn't be possible to choke in your own mindscape, but she did.

And then she was awake.

Her eyes snapped open to the sight of her frowning husband, his hands frozen in the act of placing a blanket over her as she lay upon the couch in her study. She blinked several times, half expecting to find it really wasn't neji standing there, and she was viewing something else from Naruto's life. "Sorry, Did I wake you?" The man asked softly, even as he pulled the blanket away from her and deftly folded it. "Well, since you're up, you might as well head up to bed. Your neck will thank you for it," the man went on to tell her in a half lecturing tone. She continued to stare at him for a moment, before a yawn forced its way past her lips, her eyes closing with the open mouthed gesture.

"'Kaay," she yawned out following this, before pushing herself up into a sitting position. "What 'bout you?" the woman went on to ask as she got to her feet and stretched her back out, standing on her toes and arching in an attempt to get it to crack.

"Just going to check on the kids," he replied softly. A frown slid over her lips as she looked back towards him, mid-stretch.

"I'll look in on Honoka then," was her simple response, leaving no room for argument. His right brow quirked slightly, but he made no verbal reply, simply following after her when she walked out of the room and pulled herself by the railing up the stairs, having trouble not dragging her feet, because damn she was _tired._ None the less, she paused at her daugther's ajar door, peeking in to see the girl curled up, soundly tucked away under her covers with one hand curled around the panda plush she had _finally_ gotten around to mending yesterday.

Behind her she heard a door creak, and looking over her shoulder she caught the sight of her husband's back disappearing into their sons room. The blonde woman stifled a giggle, figuring the boy had probably twisted the covers as he kicked and tossed in his sleep. Quietly she tip toed across the hall to peak in on the boy and his father, her heart-warming at the sight of the love of her life tenderly righting the boy before he started to untangle the blankets.

She had to bite back a giggle at the sight of _Neji_ battling with cloth, before she turned away to head to their bedroom. She'd decided she would make it up to her husband the day she became Hokage, but she hadn't had the chance to do so yet. Now she was awake and not bogged down by work (which would change come morning) so it was as good a time as any. Once in the room she didn't even bother to close the door before she started stripping off her clothing, dropping it in a ball into the hamper and leaving her only in her panties. Humming softly she moved to her dresser and pulled out a loose, lacy orange and partially sheer camisole that she slipped on, before half skipping over to the bed and climbing on it to wait.

Climbing onto the bed was the wrong move however, as her head lowered to the pillow, and her eyelids grew heavy with incoming sleep. She could just barely make out the silhouette of her husband as he entered the room, and if she wasn't on the verge of sleep, she would have felt indignant at the soft chuckle that escaped him. He was likely amused to find her dressed as she was, but curled up in the middle of the bed, clearly about to fall back into slumber. She was barely there enough to register a dip in the bed when the man finally joined her, and when she felt herself being shifted and pulled into a warm embrace, she knew she was gone. That didn't stop her from determinedly mumbling a slurred "Love you," before sleep finally took her again.

* * *

The next Time Naruto dreamed about Naruko he really would have rather he didn't. Who needed to see a female version of himself stripping down and putting on something that hardly covered anything, for the viewing delight of her husband? Talk about awkward. But, thankfully, she turned out to be much too tired for anything to happen aside from going right to sleep. Still, he would have much preferred to have been spared from the mental image all together. If he'd just woken up when he'd urged himself to he would have been.

Instead he had woken as Naruko was fading into sleep, and found himself staring at the ceiling in his study, a blanket around his waist. Damn, he'd fallen asleep down here again. And Hinata had payed the dutiful wife, covering him up rather than waking him to get him to go to bed. Sometimes he couldn't help but wish the woman was more demanding of him. With a groan he pushed himself off the couch, hand catching the blanket before it could slide to the floor. A little clumsily he folded the fabric and laid it over the back of the sofa. This done he left his study, heading for the stairs.

As quietly as he he could the Nanadaime ascended to the the second floor and proceeded to his daughters bedroom door to peek inside. The sight that greeted him was nearly identical to the scene of Honoka that Naruko had peeked in upon. A gentle smile formed on his lips before he turned away from the door and moved to his son's room.

"Naruto?" Hinata's voice from behind him caused him to stop in his tracks. How hadn't he heard her? He turned around to look at his wife, who was standing at the top of the stairs. For a moment he frowned as he looked at her, before his still slightly groggy mind put together why she would be there and not in their room. She must have gone to do some cleaning in the kitchen after she'd placed the blanket over him. It baffled him a little that she could clean so silently… but then she was a superb Kunoichi (not that being one had anything to do with cleaning)

He smiled a little sheepishly at his wife, and was relieved by the soft smile she returned. At least she wasn't upset for some reason or another… not that she got upset with him very easily (again he wished she was a bit more demanding of him). "Why don't you head to bed," He told the woman softly, "I'll check on Boruto."

She blinked in mild surprise at him, which honestly was a bit upsetting. Was it so surprising that he would offer to check on the kids so she could head to bed without a worry? But then she was smiling again. "Himawari?" she asked him just as softly.

"Sleeping soundly," the man told her easily, and she nodded in response, but didn't turn towards their room like he had wanted her to. He could feel her fond gaze on him as he turned to his son's bedroom again to peek in on the boy. Who was hanging half off the bed with the blankets wrapped around his legs haphazardly and his head nearly touching the floor. He nearly snorted, but managed to muffle the sound of his amusement as he moved into the room to get the child properly situated in bed again. As he was doing this his sharp hearing picked up the sound of muted steps traversing the haul, and figured Hinata had finally decided to head to bed like he suggested.

Tenderly the man tucked Boruto back into bed, before he rose to head to their bedroom himself. His neck would definitely thank him for a night sleeping in bed rather than half upright on a sofa or chair. Or slouched over his desk. Slipping into the slightly open door the man cast his gaze towards the bed expecting to see Hinata there, but instead was greeted with a neatly made bed and pulled covers, waiting for the two occupants to climb in. There was the the sound of a wooden drawere being slid shut, drawing his eyes that way immediately. And there was his wife, a pair of his sleeping pants and a loose T now over her arm as she turned to him. She had already slipped out of her clothes and into a night dress… but the fact that she had waited up to grab a change of clothing for him made him want to hug her tenderly, and sigh in frustration (with himself) all at once. Instead he settled for swiftly sliding his own clothes from his body and taking the change for his wife as she picked up his discarded clothing to put it in the hamper. "Thanks," he murmured softly before pulling the white shirt over his head.

She gave a soft hum as a reply as she made her way back over to him, her hand coming up to rest lightly on his shoulder as she rose up on her toes to kiss his cheek lightly before she went to pull away. Before she could Naruto caught her around the waist to pull her flush against him before planting a chaste kiss on her lips. "Gnight." He whispered as he released her, turning to the bed and lazily climbing in. He was honestly half hoping that the action would make her want something more… but as she slide into the bed next to him his eyes had already fallen to a half mast.

Damn he was tired.

"Good night, Naruto," Hinata murmured softly, sliding right up to his side, and grabbing his arm to wrap it around her when he was barely able to mumble a nonsensical reply. He tried giving her a bit of a squeeze, but his body was past responding to his desires.

He felt soft lips once more on his cheek, before he fell asleep.

* * *

It seemed like only moments had passed when his eyes opened again, but he knew that wasn't the case when the sight that greeted him was the vibrant blue skies and sprawling expanse of water of his mindscape. He cast his gaze about for Kurama, but the kyuubi (and his island) was no where to be found. Instead his blue gaze landed on the sunshine locks of his female counterpart.

"Naru-Nii!" the woman chirped happily at him (and he inwardly was relieved to see she was dressed in her shinobi attire rather than what he'd last seen her wearing in his dream).

"Hey Naruko," He greeted back with a wide grin. While he'd never expected to see her again, he wasn't surprised that they were once more in a mindscape mash up (apparently lacking their respective bijuu this time). After all, what happens once can happen again. "How long has it been for you?"

She blinked, clearly not having expected that question, but the answer slid past her lips easily enough. "Twenty-eight days… you?"

His eyes widened slightly in surprise, and he responded with "Same," causing her expression to mirror his own. "Maybe that has something to do with it," he murmured softly.

"Like in order to meet our timelines have to be synced or something?" she finished his thought effortlessly.

"Yeah… I mean, last time we'd both just been knocked out on our inaguration day, Ttebayo."

"That might explain why Kurama One and Two aren't here now as well maybe… like, they were both knocked out then too, but this time maybe _they_ haven't synced when we have?"

Silence spread between them as the looked at each-other with thought-full frowns. Finally Naruto nodded, though he was a bit unsure about whether their conclusions were correct. "I guess… I mean, if these meet ups can only happen when we are both unconscious that would make sense… One or Two might not be sleeping right now." Then he shook his head, a soft sigh escaping his lips. "This is complicated.

"I'll say," the woman responded. "And it's only the second meet-up anyway so we don't really have enough information, right?" He nodded. "And does it even really matter? I mean, trying to really understand seeing another world always gave me a headache…"

Naruto chuckled at this. "Well, it would be nice to know what's going on with this… connection. If it continues… for now I'd rather just enjoy getting to know my little sister better."

To his surprise Naruko sputtered, her cheeks reddening. "Oh… right…." she managed to say, her eyes momentarily averting from his. "J-jeez… I've thought of you like a brother for so long… but it's kind of… I dunno, weird to hear you call me your sister?"

"Get used to it," The taller blonde replied with a teasing grin, reaching out to mess up her hair. She swatted his hand away, a glower on her face. But moments after it turned into a wide grin.

"Visit more and I will, Naru-Nii!" she shot back at him, before she let out a laugh. He couldn't help but laugh with her. "So… I guess you went first last time, which makes it my turn huh?" She didn't wait for him to reply to the question though, instead grabbing his hand as she looked around with a bit of a frown. To his mild surprise the couch from his studdy (or hers) seemed to materialize within their dream-like meeting place, and she tugged him over to it to sit next to her. "What'cha want to know?"

Good question… He'd spend hours trying to come up with what he wanted to ask the woman if they ever got the chance to meet again, but now that he was sitting next to her he wasn't really sure what he _really_ wanted to know. Or rather, the things that came go mind he hesitated in asking because he already had a sneaking suspicion they'd bring up painful memories. "So… Neji, huh?" finally fell past his lips, a little lamely.

Either she didn't notice his problem with trying to find what to ask, or she decided to ignore it in favour of getting a conversation going. He wasn't sure which at first, but later he would come to determine it was the second option, as after he asked the question she regarded him thoughtfully for a moment, before she chirped a happy. "Yup, Neji. He's amazing… You know, you kinda helped that relationship get going actually."

"Oh?" was all he'd managed to say at the time, half taken aback by her vibrant and cheerful demeanor, and half curious.

"A'yup. I mean, he asked me out and all, but I really didn't think he had genuine feelings for me at first. He's hard to read, you know?" He could only nod. After all, the neji he remembered had been hard to read. But he couldn't think much more about it, as the expression on his 'sister's' face fell (her emotions were too erratic!) "When I dreamed about what happened to you're world's Neji… Well, I was a mess." she said in barely a whisper, and the tears in the corners of her eyes made him want to change the subject desperately.

"A lot of shinobi died in the war," he said in way of aknowledging her murmured statement. "But you know, I think a lot of our friends wouldn't have ever gotten together if the war never happened." A weak attempt to change the conversation.

Naruko grasped at it. "Yeah, Like Ino and Sai!"

"I was gonna say Sakura-chan and Sasuke," he replied quickly.

"Mmmm… I dunno, My Sakura-chan definitely would have brought Sasuke back eventually if I never did… I mean, unless one of them died or something….. Your Sakura wouldn't have?" Now that was a question (and a line of thought) Naruto hadn't expected, and never explored before. But as he considered it now he couldn't help but see it the same way (or similar).

"Eventually," he agreed with a wry smile. "What about Chouji then? Is he with Karui over there?"

"Oh yes… that one caught me totally by surprise though! I mean, I had no idea they'd even seen eachother after the war," Naruko responded with a light laugh. "Shika and Temari were no surprise in contrast. Everyone knew they were going to end up hitched for years… but Shika almost didn't ask! I heard from Gaara that Temari had actually started trying to ask him when he finally manned up and did it."

"Can't say I find that surprising," Naruto responded with a chuckle. With Shikamaru it could have gone one of two ways… being backed into it because he found the whole 'proposing' thing to troublesome, or planning the thing out complete with back up plans A through Z. "But really… Neji? I always thought he'd have ended up with TenTen…"

Oh. Crap. Wrong thing to say? Naruko's expression had just darkened, her smile completely wiped out. Were her eyes a little glassy? Shit.

"TenTen…. She died. In the war." The woman told him lowly, though her gaze had shifted away from him. The bright skies of their shared mindscape seemed to darken somehow. A reflection of Naruko's change in mood?

"Gai-sensei too," The female hokage continued, drawing up her knees to her chest as the words were uttered.

Damn. "Sorry," he muttered in response, unsure of what to say. There really wasn't anything he could say honestly. He reached towards her, and then dropped his hand back to his side. Would she appreciate, or even want a hug or something? Even though she called him brother, this was only the second time they'd met.

"Hinata-chan…. She," The woman went on as if she hadn't even heard his awkward apology, and the way her voice shook caused dread to not in the man's stomach. "She died too."

His breath hitched. Fuck. Even if it wasn't _his_ Hinata, hearing that was beyond simply painful. The act of breathing was nearly impossible for a few minutes as he repetitively reminded himself that his wife was alive and well. That the dead Hinata wasn't the woman he loved. "In the war?" he asked shakily, even though part of him didn't really want to know. The other part of him absolutely had to know.

"No. Childbirth," Was the response. A very unexpected response. "The same day my Honoka was born…" As she spoke, the tears started to fall, and yet the words kept falling past her lips. "Himawari will never know her mother… her father only ever comes to see her on her birthday… And it's _my fault._ " The woman's shoulder's were trembling now, and Naruto was caught between the desire to comfort her, and the startling revelation that her world had a Himawari as well, but one who had to grow up without her parent's love. (It made him feel like he really needed to try and be home for his little girl a little more often.) "TenTen and Gai-sensei too…. If I'd just been more…. they… maybe they'd still be around."

Woah. Woah woah. Breaks!

Naruto tossed out all other concerns, wrapping an arm around the woman's shoulder and pulling him to his side to try and comfort her. "I don't believe that, Naruko." He told her softly. She tensed, but finally her morbid word vomit came to a stop. Unfortunately, he felt that now this had started, he needed to get her to finish speaking about it. It was something she clearly needed to get off her chest, and somehow he didn't think she had confided in anyone over it before. "Why would you even think their deaths were your fault?" He finally asked, although he wanted to grimace at the question even as it fell past his lips. "How'd TenTen die?" He decided to start with the brunette, as he sort of had an idea of how Gai might have died if it was during the war.

Naruko's frame became stiff as a board, although to his marginal relief she didn't push his arm away. The silence stretched on however, and he was beginning to think she would never answer when he heard a shuddering breath from her. Subconciously he found himself straightening slightly, as if the change in posture would allow him to listen more intently.

"I didn't see it," The woman admitted at last, her voice having taken on an impersonal tone, though this didn't surprise him. She wasn't the first Shinobi he'd encountered who coped with telling difficult things by trying to distance themselves during said tellings. "I was too busy fighting Madara. But she had my Chakra… I should have been able to do _something."_ Though the majority of this was said in the same impersonal tone, the last few words held a bit of emotion he recognized as self loathing.

"Naruko-chan." He said her name softly, giving her shoulder a light squeeze. She didn't look at him. He sighed, and then spoke more firmly. "Look at me, Naruko." Her eyes moved to him, but her head remained fixed. That was going to have to do for now. "I gave my chakra to a lot of Shinobi in the war… and many of them died anyway. There was no way I could have saved them all, no matter how much I wish that wasn't so. It was a desperate battle, and I did all I could to protect as many people as I could." Another squeeze of her shoulder, and now the woman (who looked more like lost teenager at the moment, to be honest) turned her head to look at him properly. "You did the same." He added. Not a question. A statement. Because he was absolutely certain she had done all she could during the battle. After all, she was another version of him. She bit her bottom lip, but didn't refute his words, so he knew they were bang on.

So he pushed on.

"Gai-sensei?" Although he had a suspicion, getting her to say it would help. (really he wasn't sure about that, but He remembered being told something along those lines by Ino once.)

"The fight with Kaguya and then Sasuke took to long," The woman replied… which was actually not what he'd expected. He thought maybe she hadn't made it in time to save the man from the aftermath of opening all the gates. "He was in Mugen Tsukiyomi too long. By the time we released it he'd… he'd already started…." She trailed off, emotion again returning to her voice.

"Zetsu-fying," he finished for her, with a grimace. She nodded, and then leaned into him. He took that as a good sign. She was accepting his comfort (at least, he couldn't think of what else it could signify.) "Hinata?"

Silence.

He held in a sigh and sat there with his arm around her rather than pushing further. Part of him was relieved she didn't come out with it like she had the other two deaths, as hearing about Hinata's demise (even though it wasn't his Hinata) was the last thing he wanted to do.

"You sure you want to hear it," the woman spoke after several minutes and this time he tensed.

"Honestly… No," was his truthful reply. "But… You need to say it it… don't you?" Shit… he shouldn't not have made that into a question. Right?

Silence again. It stretched so long that he started to wonder why whatever sort of connection was allowing them to meet right now hadn't broken. But the woman remained leaned against him, so he kept his arm around her. Surely this was helping her somehow too right? Letting her take comfort in his presence or something? He could just do that until their time together was over, or she changed the subject. Or pushed away or something. Yeah, that's what he'd do, he decided.

So when she finally did start to speak, he wasn't at all prepared for it.

* * *

 _"Fuck!" Naruko cussed in a half whine, half yell. "Fuck sakes I forgot how much this hurts, Ttebayo!" She was cluctching at her stomach after being hit by a contraction._

 _"I think this is the reall deal, Naruko-chan," the gentle and calm voice of Hinata spoke from beside her, as her hand rubbed at her lower back. "The contractions have been getting closer together."_

 _"But It was supposed to be us girls today!" Naruko whined again, although she didn't protest as Hinata pushed her lightly into a chair. "I mean, I'm going to be a zombie for months if this baby is anything like Yuuto was… We won't have time to hang out again for a- FUCK!" She was cut off by another contraction. Holy hell, they had gotten really close together. "NEJI!" She shouted her Husband's name, even though he had left with Yuuto earlier, since she had insisted on having time with all her girlfriends, and he hadn't wanted her to actually go out considering how close she was to her due date. So of course there was no way he could reply._

 _Except she heard the door opening immediately afterwards._

 _"Naruko, language," a male voice that could only belong to her husband met her ears, and she found herself staring at Neji who stood in the hall, their son in his arms. "Hinata-sama,, can you take Yuuto? I need to get her to the Hospital."_

 _A knowing smile on her lips, the dark haired woman immediately held out her arms to take the boy from his father. "Leave Yuuto to me, Neji-nii, Naruko-chan. Go have a healthy baby."_

 _"Hey… is everything alright in here?" Sakura-chan's voice drifted down the hall before Naruko could respond. Naruko blinked, her husband having already disappeared upstairs without a word (or sound, damn hyugga) to retrieve the bag they'd prepared for the labor._

 _"Sakuraa-chan!" Naruko called out in a whine. "Baby wants out… It fu-freaking hurts!"_

 _And Sakura was already down the hall and next to her chair, a slightly amused smile on her lips. "Come on Naruko, don't whine. You've already done this once. This one will be a breeze in comparison." And she scoffed at the words. Breeze? No way!_

 _But Sakura was helping her up, and Neji was at her other side, and between the pair they were herding her out the door. Tears gathered in the corner of her eye, she twisted to call out to Hinata. "You sure you'll be okay Hinata-chan? Yuuto isn't exactly easy on pregnant women."_

 _Hinata actually laughed at the words. "He always behaves well for me." Traitorous son, the aspiring hokage thought. But then the door was closed, and her husband and teammate demanded her full attention so they could whisk her off to the hospital to have her impatient baby._

 _But Hinata was right. Yuuto behaved for the dark haired woman whom he viewed as his auntie (his favourite one. Hanabi was 'noyin' as he said, and he seemed to have something against Sakura's pink hair.) So she allowed herself to feel at ease that her son would be fine, and so would Hinata. She just needed to pop out this kid. Which made it sound like a chore or something… but she really did want to meet her new baby._

 _And when she finally did meet her new baby girl, the pain and all the fear she might have still harbored flew away. Gosh she was absolutely gorgeous. The most perfect baby girl she had ever seen (Sakura-chan would have surely protested at that and insisted it was her Sarada). "Hello, Honoka-chan. I'm you're mother," she had cooed. And then she'd gushed at Neji who was smiling so serenely as he looked at the pair. And he'd actually kissed her brow! In the hospital! A rare public display of affection._

 _Everything was perfect._

 _Until she heard the commotion outside her room and found herself worried for whomever this mother was that she heard mentioned. Poor woman going into premature labor due to some sort of shock. What would happen to her baby? Would it be alright?_

 _Having seen her concern, Neji had left to check it out._

 _He did not come back for three hours, and by then she had already heard who the woman was from Ino (who had brought her in.)_

 _Hinata._

 _For an hour she had sat, cradling her new baby to her, and desperately trying not to cry as she waited for Neji to return, or some one else to bring news on how Hinata was doing. She didn't even know what had happened! Someone needed to tell her something. She'd just decided to go demand answers when Neji re-entered the room… and his eyes were haunted._

 _It was all she could do not to wail as he told her what had happened. Hinata had died in childbirth do to complications brought on by injuries she'd received protecting their son from a group of Rogue shinobi who didn't want this 'forced peace', as they called it._

 _They'd waited until she went into labor to go after her son, because she was considered the symbol of that 'forced peace', and Hinata had died as a result. How hadn't she noticed they were around! She should have known… should have sensed it._

 _She barely even heard her husband telling her with an uneven voice that the baby, a girl, had lived. And that news only made her feel worse. The baby girl would grow up without knowing her amazing mother…_

 _And how was she supposed to tell Toneri? How would he take it? Would he do something stupid?_

 _She balled for hours. Ridden with guilt, frustration, and a gut wrenching fear._

* * *

Her voice kept faltering as she finished telling Naruto about the day that her Hinata died. She'd really tried not to cry and remained detached as she'd spoken, but of course it had been impossible. Now she wasn't bothering to stop the tears, though at least she wasn't a sobbing mess.

Naruto was silent though, and as the silence dragged on she found herself bombarded by a new guilt. How could she have told him that? Hinata-chan was his wife! "So-" she started to appologize, sitting up straight and reaching up to push his arm away from her. But he immediatelly pulled her back to his side, cuasing the word to go unfinished.

"Don't" The man reprimanded her in the single word. His voice was tense, and almost angry. She found herself wincing, but that brought out a sigh from his lips, and drawing her into turning her gaze towards his face to try and read his expression. It was pained, but at the same time concerned and understanding. "Naruko… I said it already… you needed to say it." He told her with a forced smile. "And it definitely wasn't your fault. Neither Neji or Hinata noticed either right? Or any of the Hyuugas?"

Unable to find her voice, she could only nod.

"And what reason would you have had to try and sense out danger with Konoha peaceful around you?"

Oh. He had a point.

She sobbed now. Because he really did have a point, and she wrestled with the reality of that as well as the feeling of guilt she'd carried for years.

"Imagine how Neji feels… or Hinata's Father… but they don't go around blaming themselves for it, do they?"

No… they didn't. She'd seen it in both of them those first few months… but after that there was nothing but love for little Himawari, and the sorrow of Hinata not being around. She'd never seen guilt in the way they looked at the girl. But she couldn't make herself form the words 'you're right'. She just sat there, sobbing softly, and Naruto remained by her side patiently.

Until she felt the heat of him next to her wane, and sitting up straight with a start, she turned her eyes towards him to see he was beginning to fade from view. "Naru-nii…" she breathed, apologetically. She'd ruined it all. Their time together… there was no guarantee they'd meet again…

But Naruto gave her a broad smile. "Next time, what would you like to hear about?"

Her eyes widened in mild surprise. He seemed too confident there would be a next time. "Your first kiss," she blurted out, and to her continued surprise he looked absolutely aghast at that.

"Wha-… well… Only if you share too, Ttebayo!" he sputtered.

She couldn't help the light giggle that escaped her lips. As Naruto was almost wholly transparent, she offered him a bright smile of her own (though she was sure it looked terrible with her tear stained cheeks). "It's a promise, Ttebayo."

And then her male counter part was gone from sight, her mindscape fading into darkness following the disappearance.

* * *

 ** _Word Count:_** _5788_

* * *

 _Thanks for the reviews~_


	5. III - Kisses

A/N: Hello readers~

 _Update on the 15_ _th_ I said. _Oh no, make that the 19_ _th_. Ha ha , yeah, I guess 15 and 19 have become synonyms for 21, because clearly neither happened. Am I still updating EX on the 26th? Yup. And this one again on the 29th. I know. I'm crazy. But this is a short chapter so… yeah. I'm sticking with that reasoning.

Moving on! Hope you all enjoy this chapter~

* * *

 _Chapter_ _III_ _:_ ** _Kisses_**

* * *

"What are you doing?"

Neji's hand's stilled for a moment in the act of folding a small shirt. His white eyes flickered towards her, before he resumed what he was doing. "You can see," he replied simply.

And she could. But the question was more because she didn't understand why he was packing a bag. Not for himself, but for the kids. Neji was the one going somewhere, not Yuuto and Honoka. Neji was certainly not going to be taking their kids on his mission with Lee. Wherever the kids were going, they were going together becasue her husband was only packing one larger bag rather than two small ones.

"Hanabi-sama is coming to pick up the kids tomorrow," the man provided, clearly having sensed the question in her gaze alone. She shouldn't be surprised at his ability to read her without her even saying a word. The man had always been good at reading people, and through the years as a couple he'd become the only person who could read her ninety percent of the time. She still surprised even him, sometimes, but on everything that counted, he just _knew._

She wished she could read him even just half as well as he read her.

"You know I'm not scheduled to leave the village while your gone," she said softly, crossing her arms over her chest as she frowned at the man. And then, despite herself, she yawned, cheeks flushing in embarrassment at her inability to hide her exhaustion.

"You know, Yuuto would have your office torn apart in half an hour," the man responded as he finished packing the bag, pulling the zipper shut. There was the ghost of smile on his lips.

"Give me a little more credit… it would take an hour," she muttered, pretending to glare at him. He responded with a chuckle as he turned to her, lips quirked upward in something more akin to a smirk now.

"Oh I'm giving you plenty of credit. Shikamaru wouldn't even last five minutes," he sounded deadly serious, but she was hit with the realization that Neji was joking around. Well… his version of jerking around. She snorted. The he held his arm out towards her, and she immediately pushed moved fully into their bedroom, closing the door behind her as she went to him. "Actually, I thought you could use the time to catch up on your paperwork," he was saying softly as the proffered arm was now wrapping around her waist. She was torn between feeling blissfully content at the affection, and being troubled by the mention of paperwork.

"I wanted to spend some time with my kids," she whined up at him, blue eyes imploring.

"No, you want us to spend time as a family," her husband contradicted her, no question in his voice. It was a statement of fact. He was right, and he damn knew it. She wanted to wipe that confident smirk of his face, but he was leaning towards. Her eyes slid shut, expect a kiss on the lips.

She felt it on her brow.

Again, Damn it Neji!

Her lips parted to demand from him a proper kiss, but instead emitted a squeal of "What are you doing!?"

Neji's hand's had, without her even realizing it, unfastened the belt at her waist and unzipped her top. Them sliding into her shirt to push it from her shoulders was how she'd realized what he was doing. "Nej-" she started to growl out, eyes snapping open to glare at him, and finding his face right in hers.

"You'll wake the kids," he soothed her, lips ghosting against her own with the words. The black fabric of her top slid to the floor, and then his hands were running through her hair, unbraiding the long locks. Was he really doing this now? He had to leave early in the morning and she had a lot of paperwork to get through if she wanted to have some free time when he got back.

"I-its late," she murmured, cheeks a vibrant red, eyes unable to tear away from his. "We should s-sleep," she said that, but with the tender carress of his hands up her back to the clasp of her bra, sleep was the very last thing on her mind.

"You aren't dressed for bed yet."

And then his hands were gone, her bra falling to the floor. She stared, dumbfounded as the Hyuuga was digging through their dresser now, seemingly unbothered by what he had just done. She could only stare as he turned back to her, holding out one of the oversized shirts she preferred to sleep in. He was still smirking.

"Arms up," his voice carried to her authoritatively, and her arms immediately rose up over her head without any thought. The next thing she knew her vision was blocked by fabric as the shirt was pulled over it it. And his hands ghosted along her sides as he slid the garment down to cover her.

"Good night, Naruko," he whispered into her ear, placing a kiss on her cheek before he turned away from her again and promptly climbed into his half of the bed.

"Neji… you ass," she hissed. There was no way he didn't know what he had done to her. Or how it was going to turn out. She 'humphed' at him, as she unfastened her pants and shimmied out of them. Pointedly not looking at her husband, she climbed into her half of the bed, staring up at the ceiling.

She was not going to let things go his way, she told herself.

It only too three minutes for her to scoot up next to him so their arms were touching. When he turned onto his size towards her, she bit her lip.

Screw it.

She turned her back towards him, grabbing his arm and fitting it snugly around her waist as his chest pressed up against her back.

"Good night."

* * *

"H-hi, Naru-nii," Naruko stammered a greeting out to the other Hokage whom she had been staring at for the last couple of minutes. Neither of them had seemed able to speak when they found themselves standing in front of eachother. She didn't want to bring up the 'before' they were back in this in between place. He didn't seem to either, and that just made her not want to know even more.

She didn't need that picture, thank you very much.

And he most certainly did not need to know _that_.

"H-hey," the man replied just as awkward sounding as herself.

Their eyes parted then, and she glanced instead around the mindscape meeting place. It was an endless expanse of blue sky and glass like water, no sign of either Kurama in sight. "So um… thanks. For last time." She replied eventually, eyes flicking back to him once she confirmed it was just them.

He blinked in surprise, and then in realization, before he smiled at her kindly. "Don't mention it. I'm happy I could help." And she didn't doubt he meant that wholeheartedly.

She smiled back at him, and then turned her eyes up towards the sky, clasping her hands behind her back. "So… you remember?"

"What?"

Her lips twitched into a grin. "It's your turn." Glancing at him out of the corner of her eye, she saw he had gone stiff as a board. "Unless you're going to bail out on our promise?"

A jolt ran through his frame, and then he let out what she pegged as an _exaggerated_ long suffering sigh. "Okay, I get Ttebayo," he muttered, his own eyes moving up towards the expanse of blue. "It's just… super embarrassing ttebayo."

"I gathered," she giggled. "The look on your face when I asked was priceless!"

Naruto was pouting.

"So naturally I just really have to know, I mean it's a siblings job to embarrass eachother," she said with a nod, turning back towards him now. He remained staring up at the sky.

"Well then you're going to owe me some embarrassing stories after this," the male responded, cheeks slightly flushed. He was _really_ embarrassed about this. The curiousity about what had embarrased him so was killing her.

"You'd think you're first kiss was with a guy, they way you're reacting," she pointed out, hoping she could rile him up a little more.

He nearly choked.

"Holy crap, it was, wasn't it! Who, Ttebayo?!"

It was impossible to contain her excitement over the embarrassing tale she was about to hear, and she bounced side to side on the balls of her feet reminiscent of when she'd been a girl of twelve, waiting for her team assignment.

"Sasuke."

"WHAT TTEBAYO!?"

* * *

Sasuke this. Sasuke that. All the girls in class could talk about was the bastard Sasuke! Why was he any better than him? Okay, sure his marks were probably better but he was alone, just like Naruto. The difference being that he clearly didn't want all the attention he was being given by the adults and the girls in class.

The opposite of himself.

He'd give anything for some of that positive attention rather than cold glares.

Staring at the black haired boy inches away from his face, he really couldn't see anything at all that was worth all the fuss. Seriously! What was so much better about Sasuke than him! The others his age weren't even supposed to know of the damn monster in him… the adults weren't allowed to tell them. So why the hell did they all hate him like the stupid villagers who saw something he wasn't.

Why did Sasuke hate him when he was wholly unaffected by the opinions of others?

Fucking Uchi-

An elbow rammed into his back, cuasing him to pitch forward and something warm pressed against his lips.

Sasuke's eyes in front of him were bugged out.

Oh. Fuck. No.

He was not lip locked with the bastard!

His hand flew to his throat as he fell back away from the other boy, coughing and sputtering. That did not just happen! His first Kiss was not _Uchiha Sasuke_ of all people!

But it was.

* * *

"Tha-at's priceless datte-ttebayo!"

Naruto winced at the words broken up by laughter, his cheeks a bright red out of pure mortification. Did she really have to be so amused about it? She'd laughed so hard that she'd fallen backwards into the couch that had reappeared in their mindscape as if for the specific purpose of catching her.

"I'm surprised Sasuke or Sakura didn't hold a grudge over that," she announced when her laughter had died into giggles, her arms thrown out to either side as she stared up wards, her breathing a little uneven do to having been laughing so hard. "I mean, Sasuke is the vengeful type and Sakura back then could be super petty, ya know?"

"I think she decided it didn't count because we were both boys… after the girls in the class tried to kill me," he muttered, before he poked one of her arms. "Scoot over." And she pulled her arms in, scooting over to allow him to sit beside her. "Sasuke… I think he went and forgot all about it until Kiba brought it up at his and Sakura's wedding. I swear he was about to turn purple." At least that was a good memory that came from the terrible event of his first kiss.

Naruko snorted, "I bet Sasuke swore vengeance on Kiba for that."

Naruto snickered back. "Well, no, but he did sputter some pretty interesting threats when he was drunk later."

Suddenly the other blonde's face was in his, her eyes deadly serious as she stared at him, lips tugged downward in a frown and brows knitted together. "How the hell did you manage to get Sasuke drunk?"

Naruto grinned back at her, "well, once you get the first glass in him the rest is easy."

"Damn… that is so unfair…" the woman muttered, sitting back into the couch. "How'd you manage to get a glass in him though? Whenever I've tried the glass mysteriously falls or something."

She was pouting.

"I'll tell you when you tell me how you manage to really push Kurama's buttons," because damn he wanted to know.

"Deal." She responded with absolutely no hesitance.

"First you owe me the story of your first kiss, though."

She pursed her lips, glancing over at him, and then shrugging. "It's nothing spectacular or embarrassing actually. Kind of a let down after yours, I'd say."

* * *

The four girls stared at the black haired jounin.

"R-right n-now, Se-sensei?" Hinata-chan stuttered, her face flushed, fingers fidgeting.

"You're all Kunoichi now," replied Kurenai, although her smile was an understanding one. "and you might not be sent on full blown seduction missions in the future… but a Kunoichi's body is a weapon. You never know when a kiss could save your neck."

Hinata's face proceeded to turn bright red.

Ino and Sakra were glowering. "Sensei… can't we… Go find a boy we like and do it?"

The woman sighed. "You could… but if you only kiss the boy you like you'll never be able to employ it on a mission. It's best to get used to kissing different people right now."

Naruko just stood there, eyes moving between the other three genin girls. Hinata was barely keeping it together, and Ino and Sakura looked crestfallen. "Kerenai-sensei… maybe you should at least let us agree on our kissing partners for this lesson?"

The woman met her gaze for a moment, and then nodded in acquiescence. "Alright, today you can choose, but next lesson you'll pair up with who I tell you."

"I pick Hinata!" Ino had announced suddenly, and at first she thought it was because the other blonde hated her and Sakura. But surprisingly Ino's eyes on Hinata were sympathetic, and her voice as she moved to sit next ot the Hyuuga girl was soft and soothing.

Ino wasn't so bad after all, maybe.

"Well… I guess kissing you isn't so bad… now that we're friends," Sakura was muttering beside her.

"You mean that, Sakura-chan? We're friends now?" She almost felt like crying. All through the academy she'd tried to make friends with Sakura and Hinata. Hinata was super shy, but she thought they sort of had a friendship. Sakura brushed her off in favor of fan-girling over Sasuke, which hadn't really changed much after they got on the same genin team. Or at least, she hadn't thought it did.

Looking back on the last few weeks of D ranks she realized that was wrong. It had started with a dejected Sakura accepting her invitation for food after Sasuke turned her down. Then Sakura started doing the asking when she failed with Sasuke. And after their last mission she'd asked as a team, rather than just asking for Sasuke to come along with her first.

"Yeah we're friends… you're so dense Naruko-chan! I mean, you don't have a crush on the same guy as me, and you listen whenever I want to rant about how things aren't progressing. You're the only girl I can do that with, so we must be friends."

Okay, so she wasn't exactly thrilled that was why their friendship started in Sakura's eyes, but who cares?

"You're my best-friend ttebayo!" she replied with a wide grin, causing the pink haired girl to blink at her in confusion. "Even back in the academy you were the only girl who accepted that I didn't have a thing for Sasuke, dattebayo. And even though you brushed me off a lot, whenever I didn't have a lunch you'd leave some of yours on my desk. That meant a lot to me, ttebayo." Her grin grew broader, "And you feel comfortable enough to rant about your problems to me. So of course I'll always listen, Ttebayo!"

Sakura's shocked expression softened into a bright smile of her own. "Then you're my bestfriend too, and from now on if you need an ear to listen, I'll be it!"

"It's a promise," the two girls said together, and then broke into soft giggling.

"What's a kiss between best-friends huh?"

"Even a first kiss, it's no big deal."

"Because we'll support each-other in getting the men we want in the end!"

Naruko blinked. "Uh… I mean, yeah, I'll support you with Sasuke, but I don't like anyone, Sakura-chan."

"Not now you don't, but I'm sure you'll find someone," Sakura said with an all-knowing smile and nod. She shifted then so she was kneeling in front of her, a hand reaching out to lightly touch Naruko's cheek. "And when you do I'll be rooting for you!"

Naruko blushed at the words, and then proceeded to turn bright red when Sakura's forehead bumped against hers roughly as her friend leaned in too quickly for the kiss they were supposed to be sharing. "Ow…"

"Oh shut up, Baka-Naruko," Sakura muttered, before their lips touched.

* * *

"It's a good memory," Naruko murmured beside him, and he couldn't help but smile gently. It sounded like she was quite fond of the memory. He could understand in a sense. The moment where she was first acknowledged as a friend. "And we really did keep both promises from that day," his female counterpart was saying. "Sometimes Sakura-chan was violent when she vented, and then she'd be so upset with herself afterwards on the occasions she'd accidentally hit me instead of some inanimate object." The girl laughed then. "Not that it was an accident. I got in the way on purpose, because otherwise she would have gone on a rampage through the village."

Naruto blinked. She'd gotten in the way of Sakura's fists _on_ _purpose_? "You're crazy."

The female Hokage laughed lightly at this. "Sakura-chan tells me that all the time. I'm sure she knows I'm doing it on purpose, but that never stopped her from coming to me to vent." The woma n shrugged, not at all seeming to care about the fact that her best friend used her as a punching bag when upset. Naruto couldn't understand it.

"She listens to me to, ttebayo," the female went on, wide grin back in place, casing minute wrinkles in her whisker marks from laugh lines. "And stops me from doing stupid things when I get really upset… like the time me and Sai kissed."

"WHAT!?"

* * *

"He's nothing like him at all."

Naruko nodded emphatically. "He's like three shades too light."

"And he's got that creepy fake smile."

"And his hair isn't shaped like a duck but."

"And he goes around with his stomach bare."

The two teen's looked each other straight in the eye and deadpanned "He sucks."

"Honestly, what was Shishou thinking," Sakura added with a sigh, her shoulder's slumping.

"Ba-chan is crazy," Naruko agreed, as she finished tying her Yukata in place. "So is this Yamato guy… I miss Kakashi-sensei."

Sakura sighed her agreement, holding out Naruko's basket of bathing supplies. "Although, I guess this onsen thing is nice."

"Doesn't make any sense though, I mean… we're both girls. There won't be any bonding with the two new members if we are in seperate baths," Naruko pointed out as she took the basket from her friends hands. "Not that I want to get to know pale-face."

"Or see him in the nude. His ass is probably even whiter," Sakura answered, cuasing Naruko to choke on her laughter.

"Sa-sakura-chan!"

"What, it could be true," Sakura defended simply. "I mean, it gets even less sun than his face, presumably."

Naruko could only laugh, clutching at her side as she tried not to actually imagine a paper white ass.

"Oh come on, Baka-Naruko. The hot-spring is waiting for us," the other female admonished, and then pushed on her shoulder to get her to move towards the shoji door.

Two things happened at once. The Shoji began to slide open, and Naruko caught one foot on the other and forward.

Right into the one who had opened to door, knocking them to the ground.

Wide, disbelieving eyes stared the the pale face that was _way_ too close.

Oh. Fuck. No.

"SAI!" she screamed, back on her feet and fist drawn back for a punch.

* * *

Naruto was laughing at her now. She couldn't blame him… she'd laughed at him earlier, and she supposed he would find it funny that she'd accidentally kissed Sai of all people. At least that had been long before a real thing had formed between him and Ino, because the Yamanaka would have killed her.

"I almost chased Sai into the men's bath after that, but Sakura stopped me," she explained, even though she really didn't need to give her male counterpart any more laughter fodder. "Then I chased her into the woman's bath and tossed her in yukata and all, because really, it was her fault."

Naruto covered his mouth to try and muffle his exuberant laughter, though it really didn't do much. His laughing was contagious though, and she found herself laughing along with him until he finally stopped his mirth from bursting forth. "I'd say that's a little worse than accidentally kissing Sasuke."

"Oh, I dunno about that," she replied to him with a shrug. "That was your first kiss, but I'd already kissed plenty of times before then," she told him, and giggled at the flush that spread over his cheeks. Oh she was going to have so much fun tormenting him over his first kiss in the future. But for now perhaps she would let him off the hook just a bit. "That was the first time I kised a guy though."

He blinked and then laughed a little awkwardly. "How many girls have you kissed?"

She grinned broadly at him. "All of my girlfriends, Naruto-nii."

His eyes turned as wide as dinner plates. "What!"

"Well, the four of us who graduated the same year all kissed eachother probably two dozen times each before I left with Jiraiya," she told him, enjoying the way his eyes remained bugged out. "And then when I got back Sakura-chan pushed me on Ten-ten, since all of them had to kiss her for more practice after I left." She might tell Naruto the full story of that at some point, but for right now she didn't really feel like sharing it.

"And then at Temari's bachlorette party I shoved my tongue down her throat to prove a point."

Naruto looked nearly horrified.

"My little sister is a kissing fiend," he muttered.

"Hey, that wasn't my first kiss with tongue," she told him, not that he'd asked. She was really just trying to see if she could shock him any further at this point, because really, he was acting as if her kissing all of her female friends so much was blasphemy or something.

"Do I even want to know?"

"You already do."

"Sakura-chan?" It sounded desperately hopeful.

"Nope."

He stared at her, mouth agape.

"Did you really think I would have been so mad at Sai if it had just been a peck?"

She watched as he snapped his mouth shut and pointedly looked away. "Enough about friggin kissing," he muttered and she bit back yet another giggle. He was being adorable. "It's my turn to ask a question."

"Sure thing, Naru-nii."

But he just sat there, staring ahead of him, face screwed up in thought. Clearly he had no idea what to ask. Not that she minded. She leaned back into the couch, and then into his shoulder and just sat there, enjoying the friendly company for now.

"When did you start liking Neji?" the man finally asked her, the tension having long since left his shoulders as he'd relaxed next to her.

She blinked in mild surprise, not having expected the question. "Well… that's… sort of Complicated Ttebayo."

"I'd still like to know."

"Okay…. but I think I liked him a lot longer than I knew I liked him, ya know?" It was his turn to ask, so she wasn't going to not answer the question he'd chosen. After all, that was how their weird sibling relationship worked. "So it might be kind of a disjointed story."

She could feel the light laugh in his voice as he responded with a "Tell it anyway."

* * *

 **Word Count:** _~4k_

* * *

 ** _See you next chapter~_**


	6. IV - Love

**A/N:** Hello readers~

Yup, I'm back! Sorry for disappearing. Family emergency. I was in a bad way because of it. But I'm good now, and I have returned! That being said I'm sorry to say there will not be a second _**ID**_ chapter this month, and only one next month as well, which might even wait until the last Thursday of the month as things stand. After that I may try and do two in a month whenever I can, but since I'm just coming back I don't want to stress myself out with trying to 'catch up' with a story I'm writing in hopes of it being light and fun _most_ of the time. Plus I just have a little more drive for working on my weekly fanfiction _**Ex**_ right now to be honest, and it will just be so much easier on me to concentrate mainly on that for the time being rather than forcing myself to also take on bi-weekly _**ID**_ chapters when I'm not totally up to it yet.

Moving on! Hope you all enjoy this chapter~

* * *

 ** _Chapter_ _IV_** _ **:** Love_

* * *

What was so great about cloud-gazing? She really didn't get how Shikamaru could do it for so long. This was just boring. Although the cool breeze did feel good, and being able to relax was great t0o. Her company made it better as well… and honestly she was too lazy to get up and suggest they do something right now. She'd been on the go ever since she got back really. From training with Kakashi, to rescuing Gaara, and then finally the damn 'ambush Sasori's Contact' mission that had turned into an infiltration of Orichimaru's base and just an all around disaster really.

Technically speaking she shouldn't have been able to go on either of those missions. And a small part of her wished she hadn't have been sent on the second mission, because she'd been an _idiot_ and hurt Sakura-chan. Who still called her her best friend despite it all, and was now laying beside her in the grass offering her silent company just because she'd seen her there by herself.

"Hey Sakura-chan?"

"Yeah?" Sakura murmured, and it almost sounded like she'd been about to drift off. Sakura was probably just as tired as she was, if not more so. She had hospital shifts when not on missions, didn't she? When was the last time Sakura had had a break?

"How long have you been Chunin?" She asked instead.

"About four months," the girl replied with what was unmistakably a yawn. "Why?"

She couldn't help the frown that creased her brow at the answer. Damn. That meant at least another two months before another chunin exam didn't it? Well… it seemed they were already planning something with Suna in regards to that, if she remembered correctly. But who was to say it would actually happen? Who knew what could end up occuring in the future.

"Naruko-chan?" Sakura called lightly, sounding more alert now. She could hear shifting beside her, and realized that Sakura had turned onto her side. "Are you worried about still being a Genin" And she grimaced. "What happened to going right from being a Genin to the Hokage?"

Trust Sakura to remember that.

She laughed a little wryly, turning to face Sakura herself. "Well, that was before everyone in my class became Chunin, ttebayo. It's kind of… embarrassing to be the one left behind."

Sakura was frowning back at her. "That's ridiculous… you're a genin in name only. Don't let it bother you."

She sighed in response, "It still would be nice to have the same rank... well… as most of you all. I mean… Gaara is already Kazekage. And Neji is jounin…" She closed her eyes, and rolled back onto her back, muttering "I bet they find me being a genin still hilarious."

Sakura gave a little "Oh-ho," sound, and sat up to lean over her. "Naruko… if that were true, which of them laughing would bother you more?"

"Eh? Which would bother me more?" What the hell kind of question was that. She opened her eyes, and then gave a little squeak at the strange smirk on her friends face.

"Well, I'm pretty sure you're just being ridiculous in thinking either of them are laughing. I mean, you're an amazing shinobi, Naruko-chan," Sakura went on, before she leaned away, and then looked up at the sky, palms pressed into the grass so she could lean back without falling. "But lets just pretend for a second that they were laughing. Which would bother you more?"

She frowned, pushing herself up to a sitting position and pulling her knees up to her chest. "I don't get the point of this question, Sakura-chan."

Sakura let out a soft sigh, and then suddenly gave her back a thwak. "Just answer, Baka-Naruko."

"Okay! Okay… just don't hit me again," she relented, even though Sakura-chan hadn't really hit her hard at all. She'd barely even felt it.

She tried to picture Gaara laughing at her over still being a genin… but it just some how came across as Gaara almost laughing with her? She really couldn't imagine him laughing at her to be mean. More like finding it funny with her that she was about to become Hokage while having never gotten past genin rank. Or something. Trying to picture him actually laughing at her for the sake of being mean troubled her a bit, but somehow it just morphed back into him laughing with her. Akwardly. Because Gaara was definitely socially awkward.

Picturing Neji doing it was a little different. Having the memories of him being all crazy about fate made placing him as an asshole much easier. But unlike back in the chunin exams, where she was bothered but determined to prove him wrong, thinking about Neji doing that to her now made her almost want to cry.

"Neji, I guess," she found herself murmuring softly.

"Neji huh… I thought you'd find Gaara laughing at you more upsetting. I mean, He's the one who shares a simlar background, and then beat you to Kage status,." Sakura-chan pointed out.

She shrugged at that, "I guess… but when I think of him laughing at me being a genin, it just some how ends up being more laughing with me, you know? And I'm not jealous that He's kazekage already really… I'm glad for him, and the village. He deserves it."

She wrapped her arms around her knees and leaned the right side of her head on them. "But… I guess with Neji… I mean, I tried so hard to prove that fate and inborn talent, or lack there of, have got nothing to do with how far a person can go…. and now look. He's a jounin, and I'm still a genin. A genius and a drop-out."

Sakura gave a 'hmm' sound, and then the pair fell into silence for some time. Eventually however, Sakura got to her feet, brushing herself off, before she held a hand down to her. "Come on Naruko… Lets get something to eat."

She was hungry she supposed. So she took her friends hand and got to her own feet. "Ramen?" she asked the question, though she expected she would say no.

"Sure. I'll even buy you're first bowl," Sakura-chan said instead.

"Wha- That's rare!" Naruko exclaimed, staring at her friend in surprise.

"Well, I think we need to mark this occasion," the other female responded with a knowing sort of grin.

"... What occasion?" the blonde asked her friend in confusion now.

Sakura's grin widened. "Naruko-chan… you are totally crushing on Neji!"

Ah, so that was it,"Oh… ok-… WHAT!?"

A crush on Neji? No way. Uh-uh. That was not a thing! Sakura was crazy. And she spent the rest of that day off trying to make Sakura realize it.

* * *

"That was the first time the idea of liking Neji actually came up. And in hindsight, Sakura-chan was totally right," Naruko explained to her 'brother'. "But when I admitted it a few weeks later I also sort of dismissed it. I figured it was just a silly crush based on looks and it would pass pretty quickly."

"You took Sakura-chan up on that Ramen though, right?" Naruto found himself asking, as if that was the important part of the tale. Naruko couldn't help the bark of laughter that escaped her, and in short order he was laughing along with her.

"Of course I did!" She managed to exclaim through her laughter. "Jeez… who turns down free Ramen!?" The pair of them laughed for a bit longer on the absurdity of someone turning down ramen, before Naruko managed to steady herself, and continue. "Well.. anyway… I don't think it really passed like I expected it to… more like Everything just went crazy after that. It was really one thing after another. And then first break I did have came along with the news of Jiraiya and… well, things _really_ went crazy after that."

Naruto couldn't help the sad smile that formed at the mention of Jiraiya. Turning his gaze away from the woman, he stared blankly at the never ending blue sky. "I guess… you were pretty close to Hinata too? I saw parts of your fight with Pein once."

Naruko winced at the mention of Hinata, and then sported a melancholy smile of her own. "Hinata-chan was my best friend… in a bit of a different way from Sakura-chan. Sakura-chan drove me to do a lot of things I never would have… but Hinata-chan… she was like a sister." She didn't go into the finer details. She didn't want to. Not now, at least. She let out a steadying breath, closing her eyes for a moment to calm herself. "Anyway… After that it was the Hokage Summit…. and Team Seven drama… well, you know. That bit went down about the same as yours did, I think."

"I didn't really see much of it," Naruto admitted. He half wanted to ask what Sakura-chan had done back then, but decided not to ask. It hadn't been so long since she'd been an absolute wreck from digging up past events, and he didn't really want to see her so torn again any time soon. If she felt the need to share, he'd wait until she was ready to do so. Or something like that. But there was one thing that he recalled, from her Pein fight that was sort of bothering him. "But.. back to Pein for a second…. yours was actually a girl wasn't it? Nanako, or something?"

"Oh!" Naruko let out a tiny exclamation, but then shrugged. "Your's was Nagato. Actually, there's a lot to tell about that… but the short of it is Nanako, at least in my world, had an older twin brother who died when she was maybe four. But we can come back to that later, yes?"

Naruto gave a soft, noncommital hmm, because while he wanted to know about this Nanako and her twin, she was already telling him about something else.

"Riiight then," Naruko drawled, and he could almost hear her eyes rolling at him, "Well… yeah, the Hokage summit happened, and then Obito declared the fourth Shinobi war. Aside from that dumb boat ride to the turtle island, I didn't have enough time to think about things like that." She shrugged next to him. "There were other things on my mind. Even on the Ship, I only thought about Neji as the person I was attracted to once." She laughed lightly then. "Honestly, I still didn't think it was much of a crush at the time. Something based mainly on physical appearance. I was very wrong."

"And then Neji almost died in the war?" It was a guess, really, but remembering what it had taken for him to finally understand what he felt for Hinata, this made sense. Naruko was just a female him after all, so she was probably just as thick headed in these matters as he had been at that age.

"I thought he had been killed for a moment. If Kurama was still locked up at the time I would have gone full on Kyuubi mode, nine-tails and all. Of course… if I'd seen any of my friends die protecting me it would have been the same thing… just not as quickly I guess?" It sounded like a question, but Naruto knew she wasn't really looking for an answer. It more seemed like she wasn't sure of how to describe it… but that was fine, because he understood what she was talking about. "So after that all ended and we were on our way back to the village… well I started looking for excuses to stick with Gai's team without realizing I was doing it."

To this Naruto couldn't help but laugh softly. "Let me guess… Sakura-chan pointed out what you were doing?"

"She sure did," Naruko confirmed with a snort. "She was all 'you're really crushing on him hard.' And when I went as red as a tomato I realized she was completely right. I still tried to brush it off as a small crush though."

"And Sakura-chan pestered you about it," Naruto stated, because he couldn't picture a Sakura who wouldn't have done it to him if he had said after the war that he 'kind of liked' Hinata.

"She sure did. And then Hinata-chan came in, straight faced, and sold me out to all the girls with a "This is more than a crush you've got on my cousin," as if it was the most natural response to Sakura's pestering. I just about _died_ of embarrassment."

Hinata-chan did that? Well… The Hinata he knew during that time had still been shy, but he knew now that it had been because of her feelings for him. His wife would easily come out with a statement like that now, so he supposed she would have been able to do so among her female friends as a teeanager. She had come out of her shell quite a lot by then, according to the others.

"But at the time I was more concentrated on the efforts to rebuild everything… And all that damned studying for eventually becoming Hokage," The blonde woman continued to explain. "So I didn't dare do anything about what I was feeling. Aside from try and figure out where the attraction, beyond the physical, had come from, anyway."

"Where'd that lead you?"

"A when, actually," she provided with a chuckle. "All the way back to that mission to retrieve Sasuke."

Now that wasn't something he'd been expecting. He turned to look at her with a confused frown, and she smiled broadly at him in return. "See… up until Neji saying I needed to be the one to go after Sasuke… well, all the guys my age had never given me a serious compliment.. or _properly_ acknowledged me. I mean… Sasuke did… but he was sort of underhanded with it, if not plain old insulting in the same breath." She shrugged at this. "Kiba was clearly annoyed with me, and any thing good out of his mouth was followed up by something bad. Chouji's faith was all in Shikamau, who didn't _seem_ to care either way. And I hadn't really interacted much with Shino." Thinking back on it, Naruto found that she was right even about the counterparts of those people in his world. Neji had been the first one of his male peers to have really acknowledged him, without cheapening the moment by being underhanded or following it up with an insult. It was a bit strange to think that, since he'd always had Sasuke labled as that person before now.

"Sounds kind of childish, doesn't it?" Naruko said with a laugh now. "Girl falls in love with the first guy to compliment her."

"No," Naruto contradicted her with a shake of his head. "I don't think so at all. I mean, you spent all your life up until then being shunned and hated for something that wasn't your fault. I think it's pretty normal for a kid in that position to get attached to the first people who show them something better." He had. He couldn't explain where his crush on Sakura-chan had come from back in his academy days, aside from maybe some moments of kindness on her part where he got none from other girls. But he had come to think of Iruka-sensei like an older-brother/surrogate-father, and he was still very fond of the man. In fact, he was still closest with those who had acknowledged him before everyone else had. Before Pein.

"You've got a point," the woman admitted, and then fell silent, leaning back more heavily into the couch, eyes sliding shut. He wasn't sure if she was done or not as silence spread between them, but he decided not to ask, waiting for her to either ask him to spill his secretes now, or to add on to what she had been saying.

"I don't think there was really an exact moment that I started liking Neji," the woman suddenly whispered from beside him. "I mean… not one I can identify, because I didn't know I liked him until after the war and all. And by then I realized the feeling was just there, you know?"

He found himself chuckling softly at that. He did know. When he realized he was in love with Hinata, the feeling had just been there. He still didn't know how long he'd had feelings for her. It had started so long ago, and built up slowly over the years until he was practically slapped in the face with the thought having lost her just when he'd figured it out. It had really just _happened._

"Really, we didn't interact that much at all until he asked me out. I mean, there were a few missions before I left with Jiraiya, and a few missions after the war to. But It's Neji we're talking about. He was focused on the mission and all. It wasn't like he'd ever done anything romantic or anything." Naruko continued trying to explain.

"But he said things here and there… acknowledge you and stuff… and he was known as a genuis, so you just remembered those instances... they kind of meant more than they might have from other people,yeah?" Naruto wasn't really sure if that was the case, but he did know that when he received a compliment from Neji it had always felt a little more weighty than from others… except Sasuke. Perhaps if Neji was still around he'd have chosen him as his advisor over Shikamaru? Well… no, he'd probably have chosen them both, he decided. Shikamaru was kind of like Neji in the fact that when he was growing up, a compliment from him just felt more gratifying.

Naruko giggled, and then let out a soft sigh. "Yeah, I think you're right. I guess he was around just enough that I never forgot how I felt when he acknowledged me, and my feelings eventually turned romantic." She shifted next to him then, slouching forward with her elbows on her knees and her hands cradling her chin. "Thinking about it, really… I think thats kind of what love is like for Shinobi. We just realize its happened, and can't say when or how." She was smiling a little sadly now. "and up until now being a shinobi meant not knowing when you were going to die, so the how of it probably didn't matter next to the unknown amount of time left with a loved one."

Naruto grimaced at the slightly morbid turn to the conversation, but she was probably right to some extent. It reminded him of Asuma and Kurenai. Kurenai couldn't, or wouldn't, say how she and Asuma had fallen in love. Just that she would fondly remember the time that they were, and more so when that they both knew it. "Well," he started a bit awkwardly, "I just wanted to know when you started liking Neji… and I think you've answered that pretty well." Sort of. He had an idea as to why, though not a definite when. "So I guess that makes it my turn to tell you about how I started liking Hinata-chan."

Naruko hummed softly, and then shook her head with a chirped "Nah. I think I've got that figured out."

He blinked in confusion. How would she have figured that out?

"Don't you remember, I've been seeing things in your life all of mine, Naru-nii," she told him with a grin, her blue eyes twinkling in amusement. "Which includes a sizable portion of the mission on the moon, so I know when you realized you loved Hinata-chan~" Her voice had taken on a sing song sort of tone. "And I'm pretty sure you liked her back during the pein invasion. I mean, you went totally ballistic Ttebayo!" she straightened, and poked him lightly in his shoulder. "I'm more baffled by how long it took you to figure it out. I mean, even I figured out I was feeling _something_ for Neji before the moon mission."

Oh….

 **Oh.**

He glared at her a little playfully, and rolled his eyes exaggeratedly. "With the help of Sakura-chan and Hinata-chan." Because they'd just got finished discussion how this was so. Cheeky woman.

She snorted at him in return, and even punched his arm lightly. "Yeah, but that was _after_ I mentioned to Sakura that I may have a thing for Neji."

Ah. That was right. Damn it.

"Well… I mean," what did he mean actually? What was he even trying to say?

Naruko giggled at his struggle before offering up a "Why don't we start with why you didn't notice when Pein almost killed Hinata-chan."

Well… he hadn't actually thought he'd felt anything much for Hinata beyond friendship back then… though he supposed something might have been building. And She _had_ confessed to him during that particular incident. "Maybe there was something, but It would have been like the remnants of a crush I never noticed because I was so fixated on Sakura-chan before I went training with Jiraiya, you know?"

The female him nodded, seeming to understand and accept that explanation easily enough. "Well, I stand by my thinking that you must have felt something more than friendship for her back then… but yeah, I can follow how that would be hard to tell under everything else. You had a lot of other shit on your mind around that time too."

He nodded his agreement to that assessment, and then gave a little bit of a dry laugh. "So my feelings for Hinata that I failed to notice for so long sort of started there… but after I figured out how I was feeling I've always traced it back to the war." She frowned softly at that, but made no comment. "Well… When Neji died…. I almost gave up then Ttebayo."

To this Naruko grimaced, turning her head away from him. "And it was Hinata-chan who snapped you out of it." She murmured lowly. It wasn't a question, but because of her turning away he wasn't sure if this was something she'd seen, or if she had simply been able to guess at this truth based on what he'd said. He decided to give her a few minutes of silence though, because this conversation could definitely be a little bitter sweet to her considering Neji was her husband, and her Hinata-chan was gone. He had to admit it was a little hard for him too. Neji's death was probably one of his worst moments.

Naruko didn't prompt him to keep talking, or provide a change of conversation herself, so he just let the lull continue to stretch between them, long past when the awkward air faded away to a more amiable silence. Naruko eventually leaned into him, and he hazarded a glance to her, but her eyes were closed, hiding what emotions she might be feeling with the exception of a ghost of a smile, so he chose to leave her be.

Sure, they didn't know how long they had together this time, as the endings of their meetings before had come after drastically different amounts of time. They still didn't even know if their meetings would continue after this. There was a lot he wanted to know, and he was sure there was a lot she wanted to hear about as well. But it just seemed to him that she was in deep thought, so despite feeling a sense of urgency to continue finding out about each other, he held his tongue.

He wasn't sure how long they just sat like that, but eventually he felt her weight leave his side, and he didn't have to look to know that this meeting between them was coming to its close

"Ne, Naru-nii… I'm definitely going to ask the most embarrassing thing I can think of next time, Ttebayo!"

Cheerful and cheeky as ever. He grinned broadly at her in response as her figure faded away and he was left alone.

The most embarrassing thing she could think of though? This could be really bad…

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 **Word Count:** _4023_

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 _ **See you next chapter~~**_


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